Darth Malthael did not begin right away. Instead, he placed a hand on the stasis pod and lightly tapped it with his fingers. After a while, he said, "This stasis pod can undoubtedly isolate and block the power of the Muur Talisman, but why did the Rakghoul plague still spread through Taris's underground city?"
He glanced at Zerakas. "Unless the talisman was not inside the stasis pod when Percival found it. How did they find the talisman? Perhaps the records were incomplete because of the urgency at the time, but I think we previously overlooked something..."
"What?" Zerakas asked.
"Karness Muur's corpse." Darth Malthael gave a cold smile. "What a pity. Perhaps his body was trampled into pieces amid the chaos of war."
"So Percival obtained the talisman directly," Zerakas said. "That also means the Rakghoul plague had already begun spreading at that time."
"Exactly." Darth Malthael walked over and connected his Omni-tool to the computer. He searched through the organized data, then pulled up a message. "Look at this. After Karness Fett occupied Jubal planet, he converted the place into a massive military camp. He could casually dispatch a million troops here to Percival, which shows just how formidable the Mandalorian Crusaders were at the time."
He tapped the message and continued, "See? 8.13 million troops, assembled here from multiple planets in the Outer Rim, training and receiving equipment. Their invasion target was... Alderaan."
"Alderaan?" Zerakas stroked his chin.
"That's right." Darth Malthael's expression darkened. "According to Galactic Republic records, Alderaan never suffered a single invasion during the Mandalorian Wars four thousand years ago. More than eight million troops—over thirty million people in total with logistical personnel included—yet the invasion never began."
He went over to examine the wreckage of the ship. It must once have been enormous, at