Shepard's commando teams returned from Yavin 4 with every crate, manuscript, and master-drive secured. The mission had been executed with clinical precision. Shepard logged the acquisition without celebration. The Yavin cache confirmed his suspicion: the Jedi had hoarded not only Force philosophy, but planetary, cultural, and technological histories stretching back millennia. If that was only the "lost city," then the Grand Library of Ossus would be far more valuable.
He issued the next order without hesitation: five full commando squads and a deployment of nanite canisters would depart for Ossus.
The mission brief was direct. The records Shepard had extracted indicated that during the devastation of Ossus in the days of the Great Sith War, not everything had been successfully evacuated. More importantly, older logs written by the ancient Jedi Master Odan-Urr described the second sublevel: the Chamber of Antiquities. The text noted that some knowledge was inherently unstable for open access even among Jedi and so dangerous artifacts, manuscripts, and holocrons had been stored deep beneath the library. The Chamber was sprawling, subdivided into a maze of rooms, including the Vault of Justice. Shepard wanted everything: manuscripts, artifacts, crystal records, and sealed archives.
The Ossus strike ship transitioned out of hyperspace near the scarred planet. Remaining satellites drifted as silent tombstones over broken terrain.
Captain Renel, leader of Gamma Company, observed the surface scans. "This rock looks dead."
Seraph-4, a commando with a blunt manner, replied, "Dead planets have less security. Efficient."
One of the hover-drone handlers muttered, "Remind me to never vacation near Jedi ruins."
The nanite canisters were deployed first. Hundreds of micro-machines descended like metallic mist, dispersing into search webs. Their instructions were simple: map, locate, mark, and only cut structural barriers if necessary. The commandos followed after the drones flagged a subterranean entry point.
What remained of the Grand Library was a cathedral of collapsed stone, charred durasteel, and fractured holotable mounts. Yet beneath it, still sealed by ancient mechanisms, the lower levels had survived.
Inside, the squad lamps caught dust motes in the stale air.
Seraph-1 stopped at the first intact vault door. "This is it. Chamber sub-level two."
Master-computer panels were pried open. Nanites flooded in, digesting corroded circuits and reactivating broken networks long enough to extract damaged files. The commandos moved systematically through the labyrinth.
The Vault of Justice was found behind triple-layered blast shielding. Within were preserved scrolls sealed in atmospheric tubes, Force-philosophy tablets, legal precedents of the Jedi Order, ancient trial records, and artifacts once used as evidence.
One commando whispered, "They locked up ideas."
Another corrected, "They locked up anything that could shift power."
Further in, they located glass cylinders with Sith texts sealed in carbonite foam, old holocrons marked with stabilizing runes, and books bound in materials no longer used in the modern era.
Seraph-4 tapped his helmet. "Command, get us more cubes. We underestimated volume."
The drones continued downloading everything from degraded junction nodes, including redacted reports, sealed archives, and pre-Republic historical logs. Nothing was left.
After forty-one hours, the last nanite clusters finished eroding the remaining master-terminals. No data remained inside the structure. Shepard's directive was followed: empty Ossus completely.
The final report transmitted:
"Ossus cleared. Chamber of Antiquities stripped. No sensitive materials left behind. Planet holds no further relevance."
The strike ship jumped to hyperspace.
Upon receipt of the data and artifacts, Shepard evaluated the Ossus haul in silence. The quantity and historical breadth were immense, far beyond Yavin 4's collection. The Jedi's version of galactic history, their legal frameworks, their philosophical evolutions all now stored in space-folding cubes. With these, he could reconstruct ancient strategies, forgotten sciences, and alternative force doctrines without the constraints of the modern Order.
However, his work was interrupted.
A priority summons from Kamino arrived. Shepard immediately broke off analysis and returned to Tipoca City.
Rain hammered against the windowed walkways. Inside the command center, Jedi Master Shaak Ti waited with Kaminoan officials.
Her expression was controlled, but urgency showed in her posture.
"The Jedi Council and the Senate have issued new strategic directives," she said. "Clone production must increase. The Separatist offensives are accelerating. We require more battalions at a faster rate."
Shepard stood still. "Specify target growth cycles."
"Ten months," Shaak Ti replied. "The nutrient load will rise. We are aware. Approval has been granted."
Shepard did not argue. He adjusted Kaminoan production matrices, activated dormant growth tanks, and triggered expansion protocols in the nutrient processor plants. His technicians calculated strain and throughput while the Kaminoans quietly observed the efficiency of the adjustments.
Within hours, the facility was reconfigured to accelerate output. Clone troopers would now be forced through a ten-month growth regiment, supported by enriched nutrient mediums and neurological stimulation loops.
Shaak Ti watched without comment. Shepard provided no protest or rhetoric. He simply executed the order.
Elsewhere in the Unknown Regions, the quiet hum of stellar machinery reverberated across the void. What had once been the Star Forge was now fully reconstructed purged of any Force-binding architecture, converted into a nanite-based system with no mystical dependencies. It was designed for pure industrial supremacy.
Its primary directives were simple:
Consume stellar mass.
Produce nanites.
Produce warships.
Produce weapons.
The Forge latched onto the corona of a young star and began drawing power, beginning the cycle anew.
Shepard reviewed both streams of progress Kamino's expanding production lines and the growing output of the Forge and continued planning his next phase without hesitation.