REVENGE OF A SITH
A/N: For those who read "Beloved Enemy": the prologue of this story is a rewriting of that story's prologue, but the rest of the story is completely different.
Prologue
The Sith Lord was dying.
He knew there was no chance for him. His apprentice's lightsabre had pierced his spine and it was only his total control of the Force that allowed him to keep his nerves working—but it would not last for long.
He no longer felt his legs and arms. His whole concentration was focused on keeping his heart beating, his lungs breathing, his brain working.
He did all of that in the hope his apprentice would come and find him still alive.
No, not Darth Sidious, the man who had just struck him down. His other apprentice, Darth Adair. The young man he had trained hidden away from Sidious, when he had decided to break the rule Darth Bane had created millennia before. The rule that claimed there could be only two Sith, a master and an apprentice.
It had been a hazard, of course. But the Sith Lord could not pass over the possibility of training the extremely gifted boy the Jedi had so foolishly cast away. They had condemned him to a life as a farmer on Bandomeer. Did they not see that even though the boy was full anger, he was also desperate for love and approval?
Leaving him on Bandomeer would have been a waste of talent, and the Sith Lord hated waste. He had taken the distraught boy under his wing and trained him—and he had never regretted his choice.
The boy had become a powerful Sith and would one day surpass Darth Sidious' power.
However, contrary to his treacherous other apprentice, Darth Adair was completely, totally loyal to his master. He would do anything for him, not out of fear, but because he cared.
Because he loved.
The great Darth Bane would probably consider it a fault, but the dying Sith Lord had never cared, for he too had come to love the boy.
The Sith Lord had always been a cautious man. That's why he had lived to reach a very old age, surviving the murdering attempts of three of his former apprentices. The experience and knowledge he had accumulated over such a long life had been so great and so precious that he had not wanted it to get lost. However, he had not trusted Darth Sidious with it. He knew that passing that knowledge to his apprentice would only insure the fact that Sidious would try to kill him even sooner.
So, when he had found the boy who would become Darth Adair on Bandomeer, the Sith Lord had thought he was the answer to his dilemma.
Using the knowledge gained during his life, the Sith Lord had come to recognize the one and only strength of the Jedi Order- the bond, based on affection and trust between Master and Apprentice. He had found amusing that this bond, based on the emotions Jedi so despised, was a strength the Order had always desperately tried to deny existed.
But the Sith Lord had seen beyond the Jedi's blindness and dogma. The bond between master and apprentice had to be strong—the stronger, the better. A master could not fear his apprentice if he wanted to pass all of his knowledge to the next generation of Sith.
This is how the Sith Lord had chosen to break the age old rule, and decided to train Darth Adair. He had never regretted his decision. Through the years he had passed all of his knowledge to the younger man, safe in the awareness that the youngster was someone he could trust.
He heard steps come closer. Someone was running toward him. Darth Adair! He could sense the vibrant presence in the Force approach him…a moment more, and then arms he knew were gently surrounded his unfeeling body, raising his torso and head up.
"Master?" A pain-filled cultured voice murmured, and the Sith Lord tried to smile. It felt good to know he would be missed and mourned.
"My apprentice…" he rasped.
"Who did this to you, Master?"
"You know…who has been…"
Darth Adair nodded, and his eyes slowly turned to yellow from blue-grey as his anger and hatred echoed in the Force and the dark side coursed through him.
"Sidious…" he spat, and he clenched one fist, as if he was imagining strangling the older man.
"Yes…just as you had foreseen…"
Darth Adair's eyes turned sad. "Why did you not allow me to stay near you? I could have protected you, Master."
The Sith Lord weakly shook his head. "You are not yet strong enough to face him—but you will be." His eyes blazed yellow as his voice became more urgent and impassioned. "Train, Lord Adair. Read my writings…study…gain knowledge…grow powerful…and ruin Darth Sidious. You are aware of what we planned together…to seize the power in the Republic…but when the Sith…will finally rule the Galaxy again…you must be the one in charge. There can be only one Sith master…and it has to be you. Grow powerful, son…and avenge me."
The young man nodded. "I will, Master…father."
"Good…"
The Sith Lord smiled a last time, then his expression stilled as his eyes glazed over.
Thus passed Darth Plagueis The Wise, but his legacy would live on in the young man who even now rocked his cooling body and cried for the loss of the only man who had loved him and had had faith in him.
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Obi-Wan Kenobi, Junior Senator of Bandomeer, was in his office in the Senate Building, watching a replay of Chancellor Palpatine's installation ceremony on the holovideo.
"…and I promise to always uphold the principles of justice, democracy and freedom on which the Galactic Republic has been funded."
Palatine stopped speaking and the Senate Rotunda exploded in applause, as the Chancellor made a vague gesture with his hand, in an apparent show of modesty.
"He will do well, don't you think, Obi-Wan?" Senator Anders, the young man's boss asked from the armchair were he was sitting.
"Yes, I believe he will do well," Obi-Wan answered with a smirk, but the Senator didn't see it.
"What should I do? Try and enter his inner circle? Bandomeer could use the Chancellor's support to increase our trading enterprises."
No, you won't show him too much support, Obi-Wan thought, his eyes levelled on Anders. You will keep your distance.
"Uhm…" Anders said, frowning. "Thinking on it more, I believe it is best if I keep my distance and don't show him too much support, at least until we see for certain what kind of Chancellor Palpatine turns to be."
"I think it's a wise decision, Senator." Now go, you have something to do in your office.
"Now I must go, Obi-Wan," Anders said, rising from the armchair. "I know I've something to do in my office although I cannot remember what is…I'm getting old, Obi-Wan! I'm forgetting things. Be sure to be always near me, so I won't embarrass myself!" The older man laughed and walked away from the room.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, alias Darth Adair, leant back on his chair and smiled. His influence over Anders' mind was perfect. The man had obeyed his commands and behaved naturally, without a hint of the dull repetition of words or blank eyes that usually accompanied the use of a Force Persuasion.
The young Sith was quite pleased with himself. Controlling Anders, making him do what he wanted was the first step in his plan of revenge against Darth Sidious. His plan would require a lot of time, but Obi-Wan Kenobi had it in abundance. Despite his young age, he was a very patient person, for he knew the best things came to those who waited.
The Sith had waited a millennium to put in motion their revenge against the Jedi. Darth Adair could very well wait a decade or so for his own revenge against Sidious, and, at the same time, realize his Master's plan.
Obi-Wan's heart constricted with pain at the thought of his master.
Ben J'Ray, alias Darth Plaguies, had been like a father to him, and he had loved him dearly.
The late Sith had found Obi-Wan on Bandomeer a few months after the Jedi had cast him out of their Order.
Back then, Obi-Wan had been a teenage boy who had lost his family, his home, his friends. That had been the only life he had known. Moreover, he had also had lost his dreams. He had felt lost and adrift on Bandomeer, with the sick certainty growing crops with the Agricorps was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He wanted to be more than just a farmer. Of course, the Jedi Code drilled into him since infancy stated he should not want more than he had—but Obi-Wan had no longer been a Jedi. Qui-Gon Jinn had seen to that.
Then, one day, Ben J'Ray had appeared on Bandomeer, and had entered inside the spaceport office where Obi-Wan had been sent to collect shipping forms and documentation for a transport the Agricorps were organizing.
Obi-Wan had felt an immediate connection to the silver haired man with kind yet piercing blue eyes that had greeted him with a smile. So much so that when he had been offered a drink in a nearby bar, he had accepted, forgetting he was supposed to be back at the Agricorps compound.
Man and boy had talked over a glass of blue milk and Ben J'Ray had enquired about Obi-Wan's life on Bandomeer and on how he had ended up there since his accent was pure Coruscanti.
Obi-Wan had told the man about the Jedi and the fact that he had not been deemed good enough to be trained as a knight—and it had been then, while he had sulked and sipped his milk that the boy had felt a mind brush against his own.
Rising his startled eyes, Obi-Wan had met Ben J'Ray's smiling ones.
"Did you feel it, Obi-Wan?" the man had said.
"Yes. What was it?"
"There is a bond trying to form between us, young one."
"A bond?"
"A training bond. I wish to teach you the ways of the Force, and you…I believe you want to learn."
"Are you a Jedi?" Obi-Wan had asked, as a wild hope had surged inside him.
"No, Obi-Wan. I'm something better than a Jedi. Do you want to become my apprentice?" Ben J'Ray had reached out with his hand.
Obi-Wan had stared at the offered hand and then, since the Force was not telling him "no", he nodded and took it in his smaller one.
Ben J'Ray had smiled broadly and tugged at his hand to make the boy stand up. "Come, Obi-Wan, it's time to leave this place. There are so many things I wish to teach you, and so many things you will need to unlearn—but you will do it. I know you will."
Obi-Wan returned to the present, and smiled sadly, as he remembered having his hand tucked inside a bigger, warmer one as Ben J'Ray had taken his away from Bandomeer and the life he so despised.
He had loved his master from the start and when the man had revealed to him that he was a Sith, Obi-Wan had taken it in stride. The Jedi masters in the crèche had told him horrifying stories about the evils of the Sith, but Ben J'Ray had showed him only kindness, and he preferred to believe to his own experience than listen to the tales told to children. Also, the Sith had wanted to teach Obi-Wan, while the Jedi had not. For a boy as desperate for approval and affection as he was, that made all the difference in the galaxy.
Darth Plagueis had been a hard, but fair master. The man and child had quickly grown closer, much to the older Sith's surprise and pleasure.
Obi-Wan had learned the truth behind those reactions only years later, when Darth Plagueis had explained him that the way he was training Obi-Wan was not the way the Sith had been trained in the past centuries. His Master had explained that, according to the Sith way, there should not be affection or trust between master and apprentice.
"Then why you are training me so differently?" Obi-Wan had asked, shocked, as he finally realized the terrible risk he had run when he had decided to leave with a stranger. What would have become of him, had Darth Plagueis turned to be as a sadistic master as all the Sith before him?
Darth Plagueis had smiled, and sensing his turmoil, and squeezed his shoulder before answering, "Because, my young one, I'm very old, and I've learned much along my life—including the fact that the way the Sith have been trained thus far is not the best way. How can a master trust and pass all his knowledge to his apprentice if he is afraid that said apprentice will kill him as soon as he has learned it all? How much knowledge had been lost along the centuries because Sith masters have not trusted to share it with their apprentices? I too have committed the same mistake with my previous apprentices, and you do know how it ended, Obi-Wan?"
"No, Master."
"I had to kill three of them before they killed me, and I have to be extra careful every time I find myself in proximity of the fourth one, Darth Sidious. He has not yet tried to kill me, but I feel that time will come soon. That's why I'm staying away from him and why he has no idea I'm training you." Darth Plagueis had shaken his head, "You don't know how tired I am of always keeping my guard up, or wonder if Sidious is telling me the truth or lying. Lord Adair, when the time comes to train your apprentice, do it as I've taught you. You won't regret it. I thank the Force everyday for taking me to Bandomeer to find you."
That conversation had taken place about eight years before and now, at 25 years of age, Obi-Wan thought it was time he started looking for an apprentice. Before dying, his master had him promise it would be his line, Darth Adair's line, that would go on, not Sidious', and the young Sith needed an apprentice to ensure it.
He would need to send a message to his agents scattered across the galaxy and tell them to be on the look out for Force sensitives that could suit his needs. Perhaps a dark Jedi or just someone that had been cast from the order like him. An adult already skilled would be preferable to a child needing to be trained from the start.
Obi-Wan needed time to consolidate his position as Junior Senator, make alliances with the right people, in order to progress in his political career and gain influence over the Senate—something that Darth Sidious already had. Not because he was more skilled than Obi-Wan, but because he was older and had been active in politics for more time.
Sidious too was probably busy looking for a new apprentice, after his first one had been killed on Naboo.
Obi-Wan knew that, in order to fulfil Darth Plagueis' plan to take over the Republic and eliminate the Jedi's work, Sidious needed an apprentice.
Palpatine's rise to the office of Chancellor was only the first step of the plan Darth Plagueis had plotted and faithfully recorded in the writings he had left to Obi-Wan. Now Palpatine needed to consolidate his power and create the conditions to throw the galaxy into a war—a war that would prove to be a very efficient trap for the Jedi.
The spreading of malcontent regarding the supposed corruption of the Republic politicians in the Outer and Mid Rims had started while Darth Plagueis was still alive, and it would continue to grow, even if Sidious did not know Obi-Wan's agents were helping too.
The Trade Federation's blockade of Naboo had been a sort of general rehearsal of Sidious' powers of influence. The Sith had been able to convince the cautious, cowardly Neimoidians to commit an act that, more than likely, would cause them more damage than advantages.
Oh yes, it had been a good show of Sidious' power. It had even helped him to land the Chancellor's Office. The only downside for Sidious was that his apprentice Darth Maul had been killed by the Jedi, whom were now aware the Sith had returned.
Obi-Wan had smiled when he had heard about the Zabrak's death. That creature had been so uncivilized, all rage and no brain.
Darth Plagueis, who, of course had been aware Sidious had taken an apprentice despite still being one himself, had been quite displeased by Maul.
One day, while secretly observing Sidious and Maul, Darth Plagueis had indicated the Zabrak to Obi-Wan. "That, Lord Adair," he had said, "is exactly the kind of apprentice you must not choose when the time comes. The rage is fine, but it must be coupled with intelligence and control. If the Sith want to rule the Galaxy again, they will need brains and not just arms to wield lightsabres."
Apparently, Darth Maul had not even been able to wield a lightsabre that well, since a middle aged Jedi like Qui-Gon Jinn had cut him in two pieces.
Obi-Wan had felt contrasting emotions when he had seen Master Jinn on the holonet, during the victory parade Naboo had thrown to celebrate their freedom. Part of him had been almost grateful toward the older man because, by rejecting Obi-Wan, he had opened a new, more important path for the then boy. Another part of him, instead, had felt jealousy and rage when he had seen Jinn put an arm around his new young Padawan learner.
The great Master Jinn had finally found someone worthy to be trained by him, and for a moment Obi-Wan's eyes had blazed yellow as he thought that a pathetic slave boy had been reputed by Jinn to be better than him.
But then, Lord Adair, had brought himself under control and smirked.
In due time, Qui-Gon Jinn would be dealt with alongside the other Jedi. Palpatine would see to it as Obi-Wan waited, away from the limelight, until the moment he would step up, kill Sidious, and take what was his.
It was a day worth waiting for—not matter for how long.