Song: "The Imperial Suite" from Rogue One OST

He returned to the younglings, clasping his hands behind his back. "I have decided to spare you," he said, pacing the circle of children. "You will use your talents and become warriors."

The girl, having been cradling Bindi's head in her lap, leapt to her feet. "We know what you speak of!" she exclaimed, balling her fists. "And we will never serve the Sith!"

"Shut up before you get us all killed, Allara," Banz whispered beside her.

Grievous narrowed his eyes and neared the twelve-year-old, scrutinizing her dark eyes. "Defiant in the face of impossible odds," he observed.

Instead of responding, Allara held out her hand, and Grievous felt a lightsaber detach from his hip. She ignited it. "I have nothing to fear from a machine," she said, and sliced two of the battle droids around her.

Infuriated, he seized her wrist, squeezing it until she cried out. Machine. The words echoed in his head, along with the memory of Kummar calling him an it when they'd met. Let this fool die in her ignorance that he had once been a father himself. It was the fault of her religion that his whole family was gone. "A diverting entertainment," he said with a bark of a laugh.

Allara struggled against his grip as she was lifted from the floor. "You'll—" gasp— "find me stronger than most."

Grievous brought an icy finger to her lips. "Allow me to show you something." He dangled her over the edge of the citadel building, letting her see the dome in which he'd caged the planet's population.

He brought her fleshy cheek to touch the side of his mask with the other hand. "I hold control over the life of every being in this system," he said, softness in his voice. "If I command, every inhabitant on this planet dies."

She gasped. "You're a monster," she said. "I heard what you did in the Kalee system. The inhabitants are still alive. Why kill these people?"

"The Kaleesh remain alive only as long as I wish for them to." He spoke into his com-link. "Fire."

A slew of blaster bolts rained upon the dome, sending it up in a cloud of smoke. Grievous threw Allara—with care—back onto the platform.

He bent down and took her chin in a claw. "Do you understand now, youngling?"

She merely scowled and flicked her face away.

✺✺✺

He tossed the younglings in a small, cramped room until they could get passage to Geonosis, then wandered down the lower corridors of Ugnaught, studying their own metalwork against his own. The image of Kummar's hands and foot, which he'd glimpsed as he'd studied her in that cell, came to mind. What sort of accident would compel a Kaleesh to choose metal, as he had? And how had she become khagan in spite of it?

Perhaps they assumed outward appearance makes a good leader.

But even he had to admit that they were not wrong about her beauty.

A buzz sounded in his com-link, and an unfamiliar human voice spoke. "I am Commander Vulpus, under the aid of Count Dooku. Submitting access codes."

He covered his vocabulator just before he coughed. So Dooku had sent an inspector to check on his progress with the younglings. Well, other than the girl being a rebellious snob, he'll hear only good things.

Grievous walked to the bay, hunching his back to meet the inspector. "May I inquire of the reason for your visit?"

"I am an observer," Vulpus said, scrunching his pug-nose. His skin was the same beet-red shade as D'oon's had been.

As they walked toward the cell where the younglings were held, he decided to deliver a report. "Within three days, Ugnaught was taken—and resistance quelled."

Vulpus frowned. "By annihilating the population."

"That is the most effective method of suppression," he confirmed calmly. "The Geonosians are already preparing the new parts for the experiment—which I trust that Dooku has already spoken to you about."

"Do you mean for the younglings?" A look of disgust curled the inspector's already-ugly face. "That would mean quite a few alterations, would it not?"

He stared straight ahead, clenching his fists. "The removal of certain redundant organs—and amputations."

As they continued down the hallway, the inspector gave a look that suggested he didn't personally approve. "Is there....pain involved?"

A sudden image of being strapped to the surgical bed and cut apart without anesthesia flashed through Grievous' mind, like a dream. "Yes," he said, the word choking his vocabulator. "But it is nothing compared to the benefits."

"I could assist you."

"So long as you do not remove them from my care."

"Not unless Dooku so orders."

Grievous put in the access code to the door, and they entered. But his stomach froze like a block of ice, and panic rang in his audio-receptors. A large hole was drilled in the floor.

The younglings....were gone.

"I must inform Count Dooku," the inspector said, turning tail.

"You will not!" Grievous bellowed, rushing in front of him and igniting a lightsaber. "I will not allow you to humiliate me!"

"You challenge my authority?" Vulpus shot back. "That is what you do when you threaten me. If you were to kill me, you'd be ending your own life as well."

Grievous' hands trembled on the blade. Momentarily, the red haze that clouded his vision faded. Is this the hill I wish to die on, when Kummar is still out there somewhere?

Forcing the red haze to dissipate from his eyes, he lowered the lightsaber. Vulpus scowled at him. "I will not mention this incident to Dooku for now."

For now.

✺✺✺

He found the place they'd gone—an underground cavern, where more of those wretched aliens lived.

He caught their gasps from below, on a large stone overpass that shielded pedestrians from the river of fire that awaited them down below. Jumping downward, he blocked their way. Allara and her fellow older younglings blocked his way from the younger children of the group.

He grabbed her by the robe with a single hand, lifting her up. "I was going to make you the core of my army, but you have inconvenienced me for the last time."

He hurled her over the edge, but she caught the rocky path, gasping. The screaming younglings were blocked by his massive form as they tried to rescue her. Now was the time for him to end this foolish child once and for all.

She scowled. "The great General Grievous stoops to kill children."

That harsh whining came back to his audio-receptors, so hard and intense that he was terrified of crying out in pain—or worse, fainting in front of these brats. He settled on shutting his eyes tightly until it subsided. "You beg for your lives?" he snarled.

"I ask for....a chance," Allara cried out, her hands beginning to bleed.

"A chance," he repeated. She nodded, and he decided it was only fair. "Take my hand."

Allara hesitated, then grabbed hold of his metal talons, and he helped her back onto the platform. He tossed D'oon's lightsaber to her. "Is this your first time with a lightsaber, Padawan?"

She ignited it and struck against his own blue blade, a token from Jmmaar. "You have courage," he replied, parrying her strike lightly. He would toy with her before ending her life. "All you needed was the skill to match."

At this, he forced their sabers downward, kicking the girl to the ground. "I have won. Make peace with the Force."

She gasped, hurrying away from him. But before he could impale her, his link buzzed. A droid's voice spoke. "General, we have located Kummar and are awaiting orders."

His lungs closed, and he almost dropped the sabers. Kummar. Oh, Kummar.

How I've longed to end you.

And forsaking the younglings, he charged to the nearest exit he could find.

◈◈◈

Did you know....

● In the original story, the Ugnaughts underground were killed by Grievous' droids. But since this is a happy AU, I decided to spare them as the author.

● Allara is a lucky youngling. Many Jedi masters didn't survive an encounter with Grievous in Legends.

Tell me what you think....

● What is it about Kummar that Grievous would forsake the younglings for?

● If you had been a youngling, what would you have done?