(Horus's pov— Unknown location)

It was extremely cold when I regained consciousness, not only cold but pitch black. Looking up, I could see the ceiling and bars preventing me from escaping the hole I was currently lying in, rising up on my elbows, I look around the pit I'm in and am most relieved to see that I'm the only prisoner in this hole.

Where am I though?

The sounds of familiar breathing fill the air as I once more look up to see the shadowy form of Darth Vader, the Sith Lord hummed to himself before speaking. "Good. You're awake." Looking around in my cell, I ask. "How long was I out?"

"Four days. Which was more than enough time to get what I needed from you." Was Vader's answer, cocking my head in confusion, I slowly rise to my feet and growl out. "What have you done?" The sound of Vader's breathing was the only thing that reached my ears, that was until he finally answered. "I have extracted a sample of your DNA." Grasping the bars of the pit, I snarl out. "What purpose?" Vader then took his leave and answered. "To clone you." Horror entered my mind, so I'm on Kamino to be cloned?!

This... This is all Vader's doing. He knows just how powerful I am, and if he clones me? He can make an army of Dark Siders that will sweep through the galaxy like a plague! That or... or he'll just use one clone and sway that copy of me to the Dark Side entirely and to train that clone in the ways of the Sith.

Great. Just great.

(Normal pov— Mandalore)

"This is an outrage!"

"Mandalore has been captured by the Empire and we are to do nothing?!"

"If they kill our leader, our cause will shatter!"

These were protests filling the ears of Val Haddock, the matriarch of House Haddock extended her hands to calm the Mandalorian people's words. "It is an outrage that the Empire has captured my son, true. But we cannot afford reckless action! We are on the verge of creating our Rebel Alliance and with the leader of not only Mandalore but also the Rebellion gone? We're at risk of being wiped out by the Empire."

"What would you have us do then Val? Certainly not stand idle and do nothing!"

The Mandalorian people roared out to the matriarch; demanding that action is needed, once more Val silenced the peoples cries and spoke out. "We will take action rest assured, those who command the Force and a group of our best warriors will go and rescue my son." As the people once more roared out in protest, Ahsoka watched from the sidelines before sighing heavily and entering the palace before contacting Bail Organa, once the senators image projected, he gave Ahsoka a worried face.

::Ahsoka, we've heard Imperial chatter saying that Horus has been captured by the Empire, is this true?::

"Sadly so senator. We were on a mission on Zygerria to free thousands of my people from Shili as well as many more former slaves of those slave traders, the Empire intended to use Zygerria's slaves and my people to aid them in completing a super weapon thats the size of a planet." Ahsoka proceeded to send images and holographic footage of the super weapon to the senator of Alderaan, once Bail received the footage and images of the Imperial super weapon, he turned back to Ahsoka.

::Do you know if the weapon is operational?::

"Unclear, but as soon as it is? I have no doubt Palpatine will aim the weapon on Mandalore for openly defying him and his forces. You need to present these images to the Imperial Senate, surely they can do something to overthrow Palpatine once they see that monstrosity."

::Sadly, those within the Imperial Senate are either too afraid to speak out against Palpatine or they've become loyalists to the Empire its conquest for galactic conquest. I'm afraid Senator Mothma, Bel Iblis, myself and a handful of others are all that openly speak out against the Empire, but our words are falling on deaf ears on Coruscant. You need to free Horus before the Empire executes him::

"Thats the plan senator. Val Haddock, Horus's mother and matriarch of House Haddock here on Mandalore is assigning myself and two other Force users as well as handfuls of Mandalore's finest warriors to find and rescue Horus from Imperial captivity." Ahsoka disclosed, causing Bail to nod to himself before looking back at Ahsoka.

::Very well, keep me informed. And may the Force be with you::

Bail's image fazed out and Ahsoka clipped her holo projector back on her belt to see Ashara, Rain, Hall, Stef, Ty and Fredadan approach her. "Well? Have you been able to locate Horus's eh... Force signature?" Stef asked Ahsoka, the Togruta shook her. "Unfortunately not, where Vader has Horus? He doesn't want him being found." Ashara let out a growl of frustration before speaking up. "Just standing around and doing nothing is killing me! We need to capture those weak willed Imperial scum and interrogate them!"

"I understand your feelings for Horus Ashara, I love him too, but we can't operate on our base impulses; that will either get us killed or wounded. For now, we be patient and do all that can, as well as trust in the Force." Ahsoka said gently, Ashara merely growled but nodded before the doors of the palace opened, revealing Val and handfuls of Mandalore's leading figures. "Matriarch? What is our course of action right now? With the absence of Horus... you are now leader of Mandalore." Ashara said.

"For now we ensure our home is secure; have our warships in orbit prepare for possible Star Destroyers, I want Sendari on lockdown and only our allies are permitted entry." The leading figures of the planet bowed their head to Val and went off to see their instructions done, letting out a sigh Val looked at Ahsoka and gave the Togruta a hopeful look. "Tell me that you can sense my son through the Force." The Togruta gave her lovers mother a regretful look and shook her head. "I'm sorry Val, but I can't sense him." Looking down in despair, Val murmured. "I've already lost my husband to the Empire, I will not lose my son too."

"You won't, I promise you, when I sense Horus's signature through the Force, we'll waste no time and bring him back home. I promise." Ahsoka reassured the matriarch of House Haddock, causing Val to smile lightly in thanks before dismissing herself. Blowing a raspberry, Ty looked to Ahsoka and ran a hand through his blond dreads before asking. "What about the rebels? Are they and the senators backing their cells ready to go to war even though Horus is absent?"

"They have to be. Horus's death will only add fuel to the fire, but since we're not going to let that happen, the rebels are going to need to be prepared to fight." Ahsoka said, causing the young group of Mando's to give each other worried looks before Fredadan pointed out. "Uh, yeah... about that, the majority of the slaves we rescued on Zygerria want to join our rebellion, but here's the thing, they have absolutely no experience with weaponry, flying ships are combat, and despite our peoples best efforts to train them? Lets just say the rebels still have much to learn."

"Yeah, not that we don't want to help them become a formidable force, but... they're just... well lets just say that training them is going to take quite some time." Rain said with a groan as she whipped her hair back behind her head, Ahsoka nodded at Rain's words and reminded. "I know. Just have patience with them, your labor will bear fruit in time."

The doors of the palace once more slid open, revealing Maul and Cori, the Zabrak approached Ahsoka and cocked his head. "So, Horus has been captured by Vader?" Humming in confirmation, Ahsoka adds. "I haven't been able to sense his Force signature, Vader has to be blocking it somehow." Cori approached and placed a hand on her hips. "What has House Haddock's matriarch ordered?" Ahsoka turned to Maul's lover and answered. "That Mandalore is to prepare itself from a retaliation force from the Empire and that you, Maul and myself as well as the finest Mandalorian warriors are to mount a rescue mission as soon as we sense Horus through the Force."

"Very well, if you need me and Cori, contact us via holo." Maul said to Ahsoka as the Zabrak took Cori's hand and interlaced their fingers together as they left the palace together, turning back to Ashara and the other Mando's Ahsoka smiled lightly. "Patience. We'll find him." Though Ahsoka's words caused Ashara and the rest of the Mando's to merely nod and roll their eyes; they were people of action and patience... well that wasn't really their thing in some areas of life. The group of Mando's excused themselves and Ahsoka went outside to see the Mandalorian people active and preparing themselves for battle, while at the same time, the Togrutan Force user murmured to herself.

"Horus, where are you?"

(Normal pov— Cloning facilities of Kamino, Tipoca City)

Horus was simply lying down the ground of the pit he was caged in and he stared up at the ceiling, he couldn't believe that Vader had cloned him! The question on Horus's mind was just how many clones were created out of his DNA, hopefully not many, at least thats what Horus hoped. But the days of isolation gave Horus time to be one with the Force and see what exactly Sidious has been up to, and what the Sith master has been doing in his spare time can only spell doom for the rest of the galaxy; learning the secrets of Force drain from the ancient Sith Lord, Nihilus, delving into the secrets of the Mortis gods and other ways to increase his vast power.

The idea of being kept in a hole in the dark didn't sit well with Horus, so reaching up, he grasped the bars preventing him from escaping the pit and thanks to the Force, he applied it into his strength and successfully parted the bars so that he could escape the hole he was being kept in. Pulling himself up out, he looked around the room to see there were deactivated Sith training holodroids and in front of him was a door that led out of his isolation chamber. Using the Force to slide the doors open, Horus quickly clung to the shadows of the chamber as two Stormtroopers came to investigate. "What was that?" One of the troopers asked, activating the flashlights on their blasters, they searched the room, completely unaware that Horus was free.

Approached one of the troopers, Horus grabbed him from behind and proceeded to snap his neck like a twig and moved on to the next trooper, kicking that troopers leg in, Horus then proceeded snap that troopers neck as well and then searched the troopers for anything useful. Smiling to himself, Horus was pleased to see each trooper has his yellow bladed lightsaber and the Darksaber clipped to their belts, relieving the deceased troopers of his weapons, he clipped them to his own belt and then threw the corpses of his enemies into the pit that held him before proceeding to make his way into a ventilation system above the chamber that held him.

Climbing up the ventilation system, Horus looked below him and could see Kaminoan scientists, cloners and researchers going about their business, he just needed to stay out of sight for the time being, before escaping, Horus was going to find out just how many clones infused with his DNA Vader had created and once he found them? He was going to destroy them. Allowing the Force to be his guide, Horus then made a right turn in the vent system before looking down and could sense... strong Force signatures.

This was the place.

Removing the vent out of his way, Horus jumped down before landing on the ground and what Horus saw made his heartbeat skip several beats and his horror skyrocketed at the sight of... fully grown clones of himself. Obviously these clones were fully accelerated to quicken their aging, but still... the sight of so many clones of... himself made Horus release a shuddering breath.

So many potential slaves of the Dark Side in one room for the Sith to corrupt. Activating his yellow bladed lightsaber, Horus approached the nearest tank that held a clone and cut the tank open, causing liquid to spill all over the place and his clone to fall on the ground. The clones skin was deathly pale, but it still had his freckles, auburn hair and... all his physic features. As he raised his saber above his head, Horus thought if this truly was the right choice; killing defenseless beings. But he had to silence his conscious and remind himself that these clones aren't people, they're just... tools and slaves for the Sith, putting these clones out their misery would be a mercy compared to the suffering they'd be exposed to if they're allowed to regain consciousness. Plunging his saber into his clones back, Horus moved on to the next tank, sliced it open and proceeded to kill the clone that resided inside that tank before repeating the process over and over again.

About twenty minutes later, the chamber floor was soaked with tank fluid and deceased corpses of clones were all over the place and Horus himself was huffing and puffing at what he had just did. Quieting his racing heart beat, he closed his eyes and used the Force to see if he could sense anymore clones within the Kaminoan city he was in, he was relieved when he felt no other Force signatures that matched his own, reopening his eyes, he exhaled heavily before making his way back to the ventilation system, just before he could jump, the alarms sounded and the inert comms when off.

::Alert! This is an emergency! The test subject has escaped the isolation chamber! Lockdown procedures are engaged!::

Jumping back into the vents, Horus climbed through the passageways and used the Force to guide him towards the nearest hagar bay. As Horus was crawling through the vents, he was stopped dead in his tracks as a blood red lightsaber pierced the vent right in front of, causing the Force Sentinel to gasp in both surprise and fear. As the crimson bladed lightsaber continued to pierce the vent, Horus made his way out before he got killed and once he landed on the ground, he turned around to see Darth Vader and Stormtroopers aiming their blasters at him.

"Your efforts have been wasted Vader, I just killed a chamber full of my clones, and as far as I can tell, those were the only clones who the Kaminoans create. Killing them was a merciful fate, rather then allowing them to become slaves to either you or Sidious." Horus snarled out, Vader didn't say anything, he merely moved like lightning and lashed out at the young man, causing the two warriors to enter a blade lock. Once breaking the blade lock, Vader tried removing Horus's head, but the young man ducked and then summersaulted backwards as the Sith Lord tried slicing him in half, Vader proceeded to use the Force to hurl a nearby droid at his enemy, but Horus sidestepped the incoming droid, but more items were hurled his way.

Horus hacked or evaded all the items hurled his way, from medical droids, crates and even Kaminoans. Having enough, Horus used the Force to cause the Stormtroopers behind Vader to open fire on the Sith Lord, when the first blast bolt connected to Vader's back, the Sith Lord cried out in pain and turned around to deflect his weak minded mens attacks, this gave Horus an opportunity to run for the nearest hangar bay.

Successfully making it outside, rain poured down on Horus as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, straight ahead was another door that led to another part of Tipoca City, but Horus could see Imperial troopers advancing on him and handfuls of Imperial Riot troopers as well. Blocking incoming blaster fire from the Stormtroopers, Horus deflected the bolts back at those who fired, successfully killing them and leaving only the Riot troopers left, they stopped and whirled their electro staffs expertly before one of them lunged at Horus, the young man swatted away the electro staff but one of them connected into his left leg, causing electric to crawl up his body and he let out a cry of pain as he had to swat away or evade calculated strikes from the Riot troopers.

One of the troopers made a stabbing motion, but Horus evaded the attack and brought his saber down on that Riot trooper, killing him before having to deal with a few more. Managing to sweep his legs out from under him, the Riot troopers all drove their electro staffs into Horus's gut, causing Horus to scream out in agony, but his anger shot through the roof and he let out a Force repulse, sending the Riot troopers flying in all directions and allowing Horus to get up and run while clutching his stomach. Making it back inside another section of the city, Horus pushed pasted several Kaminoans and medical droids while turning around and just now seeing that Imperial troopers were right back on his tail, the young man applied the Force into his sprinting and to the naked eye? He was gone.

Horus found himself back outside to see a hangar, the sight caused Horus to smile, but then he noticed two Imperial AT-MPs, the two walkers fired their mini guns at Horus, causing the man to expertly block all the laser bolts away from him with ease. Once the mini guns overheated, the smaller walkers fired missiles, causing Horus to catch them with the Force and hurl the missiles back at the walkers legs, causing them to crash down on the ground.

"There's the test subject!"

"GET HIM!!"

Turning around, Horus laid eyes on several squads of Stormtroopers, so grabbing the two downed AT-MPs at the troopers, they all screamed in horror at the sight of the downed walkers being hurled at them, but their screams were silenced as they were soon crushed. Continuing his run to the hangar, Horus then ran into a squad of Imperial sentry droids, they then opened fired causing Horus to growl out in disbelief before charging the droids while also pulling out the Darksaber and spinning around like a whirlwind and then proceeded to cut the droids down. Once of them tried punching him across the face, but Horus sliced that droids arm off and then its legs and finally drove both his sabers into its face.

After making quick work of the sentry droids, Horus finally reached the hangar only to be greeted by a squad of Stormtroopers and a bounty hunter wearing run down green Mandalorian armor. "Quite a mess you've made." The bounty hunter stated, and to Horus's surprise, this bounty hunter sounded exactly like a Jango Fett clone, could this be the notorious Boba Fett? It must be. "Your head's worth a lot of credits." Boba said as he then activated his jetpack and aimed his blaster rifle at his target. "And I'm gonna be the one that collects that bounty." Boba then starts shooting, causing me to deflect his bolts away or towards the squad of Stormtroopers, successfully hitting some of them and causing them to start shooting at me as well, causing me to quickly take cover.

"We've got him pinned! Advance!!"

A Stormtrooper captain barked out, causing the troopers to press their advance, looking around for anything that might help, Horus lays eyes on explosive barrels and smirks at the sight of them, using the Force to lift three of them, he hurls them at the Stormtroopers who cry out at each other to take cover, but they're blown to pieces or sent flying in all directions into a crisp. Boba torpedoed himself right into Horus's chest, causing the Force Sentinel to cry out in pain and drop both his lightsabers, once Boba and Horus backed away from each other, the young man raced for the nearest lightsaber, but Boba activated his jetpack and flew straight for Horus and fired his grappling line, the line wrapped tightly around Horus's neck as Boba flew all over the hangar will successfully choking Horus out with his grappling line.

Hacking and gagging, Horus used the Force to summon the Darksaber and slice the grappling line off his neck and then proceeding to reach out in the Force and slam Boba into the hangar walls and that caused the bounty hunters jetpack to malfunction and causing him to fly out of control and then proceeded to crash into nearby crates. Standing up and caressing his still tender throat, Horus hissed as he felt the grappling line imprints on his throat, he then proceeded to retrieve his yellow bladed lightsaber and advance on Boba, the bounty hunter slowly got up and groaned in pain. Horus then grasped Boba with the Force and lifted him off the ground and then pushed him into his docked ship— Slave I, crying out in pain, Boba got back up and pulled out a thermal detonator and hurled it at Horus, but the Force Sentinel dashed ahead as the detonator exploded, growling out in anger, Boba then fired his jetpacks rocket, but Horus caught with the Force and hurled it right back at the bounty hunter.

Boba quickly leaped out of the way just as his rocket made contact with a nearby Kaminoan ship and causing the ship to explode and send debris flying everywhere. Seizing the opportunity to escape, Horus sprinted towards a Kaminoan flight pod and entered the ship and took off, just as Darth Vader and a squad of Riot troopers arrived on the scene.

As the Sith Lord watched his prisoner escape Tipoca City, he then turned to Boba Fett who slowly got back up and rubbed his head through his Mandalorian helmet before turning to the Sith Lord. "Perhaps your reputation is exaggerated Boba Fett." Vader said in a displeased tone, causing Boba to growl out in anger but also being mindful not to provoke Vader. "So what now? He's just gonna keep causing trouble for you and the Empire." Boba stated, the Sith Lord nodded before replying back. "Of course he is. I received all I needed from him— his DNA. When I checked on the chamber that held his clones, I was... surprised that he had the fortitude to kill copies of himself. Most impressive."

"So... what? You trying to make a personal assassin with that guys skills and his command of the Force?" Boba asked, Vader merely hummed in confirmation before dismissing himself. The loss of the those clones put quite a dent in Vader's plans to overthrow his Sith master, but lucky for him, a Sith is always has a backup plan, which was already in motion. He was constructing a new suit which is more... flexible, more comfortable and less vulnerable to Force lightning, that and his time delving in ancient Sith alchemy may provide an answer in restoring his severed limbs and should hopefully restore his powers to even greater heights.

As is the way of the Sith— the apprentice craves and covets power and works to overthrow the master and to ultimately rule the Sith alongside his chosen apprentice. Vader had hoped a clone of Horus would make a perfect apprentice to help him overthrow Darth Sidious, but since Horus foiled those plans, Vader would continue in his efforts in making himself stronger than ever while at the same time obeying his masters whims and keeping an eye out for a potential apprentice to help him overthrow the emperor of the galaxy.

"All in good time." Vader murmured to himself as too made his way to his own TIE advanced straighter to return to the Imperial capital, lest he believed his master would being the search for a more... worthy successor to the Sith Order. "One day old man, you will regret ever underestimating my power now and then you will wish you'd left me to die on Mustafar." Vader snarled out to himself, hating the prospect of Sidious casting him aside like trash. Darth Vader would make himself strong and he would become the galaxy's most powerful Sith Lord to ever exist and he would ensure to crush Darth Sidious for not only lying to him about preventing his precious Padmé from death but for enslaving him as his apprentice and in a suit thats more of a prison than a way of keeping him from death. As Vader punched in the hyperspace coordinates to Coruscant, the half man half machine dark lord nodded and murmured to himself.

"All in good time."