This is an excerpt to a future series that I plan on writing. The synopsis of the series will explore an alternate timeline where the Sith revealed themselves about 40 or so years sooner and Jedi Master Dooku and Padawan Qui-Gon Jinn are caught in the middle of their sinister plot and will also test them both as Jedis and their Master/Padawan bond with each other. This was in response to a prompt which gave me the opportunity to explore this scene and get it out of my system.
Dark Tide I: Revelation
Excerpt
It was suppose to have been a simple routine diplomatic mission to Devaron to try and negotiate for the freedom of a Republic Representative that had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. What had suppose to have been routine, instead turned into a convoluted mystery of murder, deceit, and blackmail revolving around the Representative, a ship designer and a Intergalactic Banking Clan deal.
Now the Jedi Master was fighting for his life at the base of a high mountain after chasing the culprit behind the framing of the Representative, wishing desperately that his padawan was with him. The rocky terrain was dangerous and proving to be a hindrance rather than an advantage as it was for his opponent. Below, the mountainside swept gently into a forested valley and just beyond that was the city where most of this misadventure had played out.
It was suppose to have been routine.
"You will die here, Master Dooku," the Bith hissed through his breather as his crimson blade clashed against the Jedi's emerald one, their weapons locking. The Jedi Master struggled to keep the lock and break it in his favor but the Bith was proving to be much harder to overcome than he originally had anticipated. He sensed the Force wrapping around the alien, warping it's aura in darkness, and fueling the alien's dominance in the saber lock.
When the duel had begun, Master Dooku had been surprised that Rugess Nome could manipulate the Force and command the darker arts of the Jedi way. At first he had wondered if the Bith had been a failed Padawan that had stumbled upon Sith teachings, but the pure malevolence and hatred he could feel emanating off of the alien and the whispers of the Living Force told him otherwise.
This Bith was no fallen Jedi.
"That..." he replied between gritted teeth, "has yet to be determined!"
The lightsaber lock broke with Dooku stumbling back several yards from a shove in the Force by the Bith and barely got his green blade up in time to block a downward strike after the alien had leaped into the air for a quick, killing blow. The Jedi Master rolled away to avoid a second strike and flipped back onto his feet. The lightsaber duel resumed with Nome forcing the Jedi into retreat from his powerful Djem So sweeps. Small rocks, dirt and pebbles cascading gently down the mountainside where their feet landed.
Never before had he ever faced an opponent like this alien. Of all the Jedi he had dueled in friendly contests and spars, he had never found himself being battered and forced to retreat from such ferocity and power. Oh he certainly knew the style that the Bith was using against him, and had faced it many times before from his fellow Jedi but none of the practitioners in the Jedi Order had ever employed the Darkside of the Force behind it.
This Bith, this Sith did not hold back one iota in its strikes and sweeps or kicks. It did not hesitate to undermine Dooku's own calculative deflections and ripostes with simple manipulations of the Force. Twice Dooku had almost been disarmed, once nearly literally, and it angered him that the alien's technique was getting through his own superior Makashi.
"I can sense your frustration," the Bith taunted as their weapons once more locked and Dooku was hard pressed from keeping the alien in overpowering him again. "Your anger. You believe yourself to be a superior duelist, and it angers you that I am defeating you!"
"Hardly," the Jedi Master answered coolly regardless the fact that he was frustrated and angry. He kicked the Sith in the shin to break the lock and shoved back with the Force to send the alien sprawling across the rocky terrain. Master Dooku took the moment to catch his breath as the Sith scrambled back to his feet.
Master! He was relieved to hear his padawan through their bond. I'm coming!
Fear gripped his heart just then. He did not want Qui-Gon to get involved in this fight despite the fact that he could use the help. Had this been just another Dark Jedi or a simple practitioner of the Darkside, he would have gladly and happily accepted his padawan at his side. But this alien was no simple Force practitioner, he was Sith.
No! Stay away!
His lightsaber parried a strike meant for his head once the Bith had rejoined him in battle and the two continued to dance across the slippery slope of the mountainside.
But...!
This fight is not yours, Padawan! Dooku could feel Qui-Gon nearing rapidly and knew that if he did not finish this duel soon, his reckless student would engage, heedless of his command. He was certain, without a doubt, that Qui-Gon would be no match for this alien.
"You fear something," once more the Bith tried to unsettle the Jedi Master and Dooku hated the fact that this alien could read him so easily. An expression of recognition seemed to cross the Sith's bulbous face or at least that was what Dooku thought. The Bith was hard to read except through the Force. "You fear for your student."
They both could feel Qui-Gon was almost there.
"I fear nothing!" Dooku lashed out, grabbing his lightsaber hilt with both hands and slashing recklessly down on the Bith's weapon repeatedly. The Sith was not the only one who knew the techniques of Djem So and since the form had been developed out of Makashi and Soreso, it came almost naturally to him even though he had not mastered it. His fear for his padawan gave him the strength to push the alien back across the rocky slope and for a moment Master Dooku believed he would win this fight.
Only for a moment.
The end came when the Bith chortled behind his breather and after deflecting another of Dooku's reckless strikes, he stretched out a hand and splayed his fingers. The Jedi Master was caught by surprise as blue-white tendrils of lightning licked off of the Sith's fingertips and sent him flying backwards from the impact of the Darkside energy.
He rolled down the rocky terrain, remnants of the lightning strike dancing across his body and robes, and crashed against a larger boulder. Dooku groaned as he struggled to get back to his feet but a second bout of lightning crawled across his body and he cried out in agony.
"Master!" he heard Qui-Gon cry and with a snap-hiss of a lightsaber, Dooku saw briefly his padawan leap at the Sith and engage him.
Padawan, no!
The Jedi struggled to get back up, but every muscle in his body refused to listen to his commands. He could feel the calf muscles spasm painfully as he tried to work his legs, and his arms felt heavy as he tried to push himself up. All he could do was watch helplessly as Qui-Gon fought the Sith.
It felt like an eternity had passed before the fallen Master could find the strength to stumble back to his feet. In that time, Qui-Gon had forced his opponent to retreat up the mountain onto a switchback but Dooku knew that the Sith was only toying with him. Though he did not understand why. Why hadn't the Sith already dispatched the younger Jedi? He certainly had the power and strength to do it easily.
The Bith swatted a side strike and turned his head to face the weakened Jedi Master and Dooku could have sworn that he could see the alien smile behind his breather. Dread filled his heart as he understood why the alien had not dealt with his Padawan already. He wanted the Jedi to see the younger man's fall.
Dooku summoned the Force to him to give him the strength to run to Qui-Gon's aid and just as he was half way there, the Bith sliced through the Padawan's hilt and fingers and running his crimson blade through the opening and into the shocked human's abdomen.
"NOOO!" screamed the Jedi Master as he stood there in shock, time slowing while his apprentice fell to the rocky ground, wisps of smoke rising from cauterized flesh. Reality caught up to him swiftly as a series of emotions washed over him at the sight of his fallen Padawan. Grief, despair, anger, hatred...
Rage.
With a great leap and a snap-hiss of his lightsaber, the Jedi Master landed protectively in front of his fallen student and hacked aggressively at the Sith. He did not care at this moment whether his form was fluid and elegant. He did not care what style the Sith was using against him or what style he was using against the Sith. All he cared about was getting past the alien's defenses and striking him down.
His rage fueled his strikes and the Force enhanced his strength as he tapped into a power he knew was forbidden to the Jedi and had he been of a better mind, would not have even considered a single moment of his thought in using it.
But he did not care.
What he did care about was Qui-Gon. His Padawan lay behind him somewhere, dying to a fatal lightsaber wound and this Sith in front of him was relishing in the kill. Dooku would not stand for it and swore that he would see this alien dead at his feet before this fight was over.
He would make this alien pay for slaying someone so bright in the Force. Never again would Qui-Gon follow him into danger. Never again would he come back to the ship with some random stray in tow. Never again would he hear the boy's laughter or see the amused smile or twinkle in his eye. Never again would he feel the strong presence that was Qui-Gon Jinn in the Living Force.
All because of this Sith!
"You... will... die... Sith!" he growled hatefully at the Bith as slash after slash crashed against the crimson lightsaber. His powerful and reckless, rage fueled attacks drove the alien back along the switchback until one powerful hack knocked the Bith to the ground. But Dooku did not stop in his assault, he would not stop until he had killed the alien.
Tears streaked his dirt covered face as he battered the Bith with his lightsaber and the Force, a yellow tint flecked the edges of his brown eyes as his hatred and anger finally broke through the Bith's lightsaber and sliced through bone and flesh. The alien cried out as his arm was cut at the elbow and he would have been silenced by the enraged Jedi Master if he had not stuck out a hand and struck the Jedi with a final bout of Sith Lightning.
Dooku flew back and down the switchback, caught off guard by the attack from his own rage. He rolled to a stop against Qui-Gon and ignoring his own pain quickly struggled back to his feet. By the time he reached where he had felled the Sith Lord, the Bith had gone. All that remained was the dismembered arm.
Anger sent the limb flying over the mountainside and he would have pursued the Sith if it had not been for a weakened voice in his head. Master...
"Qui-Gon..." he breathed and spun around to run back down the switchback to his fallen student. His rage quickly dissipated at the sight of his wounded apprentice and collapsed to his knees beside him, grief induced panic quickly replacing the stronger emotions he had felt earlier in fighting the Bith. "Don't move, my boy!"
"Master..." Qui-Gon pleaded as he was lifted up by the man. Master Dooku carried his Padawan in his arms and hurried as quickly as he could down the mountainside for the speeder his Padawan had come in. "I'm sorry I failed you."
"No, Qui-Gon," he shook his head, trying his best to remain strong for him. "You did not fail me." A soft but weak smile crossed the younger man's face and Dooku stopped meters from the speeder as he saw the light fade in the boy's eyes. "Qui-Gon! Don't you leave me!"
"Qui-Gon!" Dooku's voice cracked in terror and grief as he felt the boy's presence fade in the Force. His knees gave out from under him as he reached the speeder and collapsed to the ground with the padawan still in his arms. "Don't you dare leave me!" The Jedi Master held his padawan against him, his face buried in the boy's shoulder, repeating over and over again the same demand as the grief and then anger overwhelmed him.
How dare he! He was Qui-Gon's master! He was Jedi Master Dooku and one did not simply defy his commands by dying! If the boy would not obey him then he would make him obey! You are not going to die on me, boy! He commanded through the fading bond and without realizing what he was doing, he called upon the powers of the Force and willed his padawan to not die, letting the Force guide him.
A blue black aura glowed around the Jedi Master and Padawan as Dooku held onto the boy firmly with eyes closed, willing the midichlorians to heal the damage to the boy's body and anchoring the boy's essence before it had the chance to become one with the Force. All around them, unnoticed by the Jedi Master, blades of grass and stems of weeds began to shrivel up and turn brown and then black. The leaves of nearby trees curled up and wilted before falling from the branches as the Living Force surrounding the two Jedi was twisted and drawn to the Master and into the Padawan.
Suddenly a desperate gasp of air from the young boy signified to Master Dooku that his will had prevented his Padawan from dying. He let go of the Force the moment he heard the boy breathing again and stared down in amazement at his coughing Padawan. He had not expected to succeed but did not care at that moment either. All that mattered was that he had and his padawan lived.
"Master?" Qui-Gon asked weakly and confused when the Jedi Master embraced him tightly. "Master Dooku, I can't breathe!"
Dooku let go just then, "I'm sorry, Qui-Gon. I thought... I thought I lost you there for a moment." He wiped a smudge of dirt from the boy's face but his joyful smile faded at the confused and nearly frightened look the boy gave him. "What is it?"
"Master... your eyes!" Qui-Gon exclaimed softly. Dooku furrowed his brow in confusion and then glanced at the nearby speeder, staring at his reflection in the chrome metal of the vehicles hull. What he saw shocked and frightened him.
No longer were they the piercing brown color he was use to seeing every time he looked at his reflection. In their place were yellow irises flecked with a crimson highlight. His face looked gaunt and worn, older even and he could see streaks of white emerging from his hairline. He could not bring himself to stare at his image any longer and as he looked away he saw the devastation around them.
What had he done?
"Master?"
"Qui-Gon... I fear I may have crossed a line," he answered ominously.