1. It is set in the age of the empire, at the end as it crumbles against the rebel onslaught.
2. Starkiller is my OC but just borrowed the name because I thought it sounded good, so the name belongs to George Lucus (or is it disney now) but the characteristic traits belong to me.
3. Starkiller is Sideous's apprentice not Vader's
4. This story used to be called earth wars but that caused a little bit of a writers block so decided to change it
The floor was cold, that was the first thing that was noticed as Starkiller knelt down awaiting the order that she had so desperately fought for, trained for, even killed for. She half smiled at the floor as she remembered with relish the blood she had spilled in vengeance of her suffering.
"What are you smiling about?" Starkiller shivered, the voice that had trained her echoed around the openness of the atrium which Starkiller was knelt in, the thin papery voice of Sideous. She looked up until she saw the edge of her master's black cloak laying right in front of her. She drops her gaze hoping he didn't notice.
"Nothing my lord" she said slowly trying not to betray how her heart raced, how she trembled with anticipation, she felt rather than saw him smile the tendrils if satisfaction snaking through the swirling darkness of the room.
"You lie well" Sideous rasped caressing the girl before him with the force. "But not good enough" he growled smiling slightly as Starkiller winced with some invisible pain. "Do I need to repeat the question?" He hissed rhetorically.
"No my lord" Starkiller whispered this time it was impossible for Starkiller to keep the excitement from her voice. "It's..." She paused trying to find the words while pushing her memories through the force, the scream of her enemies, the boredom during her time in the senate, the enjoyment of manipulating her opponents out of the field of play. She pressed them onto her master trying to make him feel the raw energy she was currently feeling.
"Stop!" Sideous commanded and the force was silent once more. "Enough" he groaned. "Vader taught you well, you are ready" he said leaving Starkiller slightly disappointed, she knew her master's praise was readily sought but rarely given, so why did it sound so empty?
"Thank you my lord" she whispered with reverence as she was due, they both knew it was a turn based phase to go through, something that meant little to either party, but they both ignored it. Still she flinched as she heard something fall next to her, still ducked her head into her chest as if she was to receive a blow. She stayed like that for sometime, body curled in upon itself to protect her vital organs, when no blow was forthcoming she tentatively looked just beyond her feet, just beyond her safe personal bubble to where a braid of human hair lay, her hair, her braid the one she had cut from herself years ago.
"Feel it" Sideous rasped. "Pick it up" he said, smiling cruelly. "Listen to the force". She did as she was hidden listening to the hums of the force, she looked at the coloured strands, wound into the hair in very specific patterns, she stroked each ribbon following its line through the braid as she remembered why she had received them. Her master had been so proud of her. She smiled slightly and she knew that Sideous was too, so this is the ultimate test Starkiller thought, how can I cope with my past. A locked door in her mind rattled trying in vain to gain her attention but she ignored it to entranced by the light side of the force and how it sang around the braid, warming her up and blinding her after so long in the dark. She clung to the braid as a child would to its teddy longing for those carefree moments again, the kind words, the thoughts of how it would never end, her master's smiles and gentle nudges pushing onward to do more. She looked up at Sideous and he faltered as he studied her force signature.
"Master" Starkiller heard herself whisper although to her past master or her present master she wasn't sure.
"No!" Sideous commands. "Stop!" He says again desperately trying to regain his hold on the darkness when so much of it was breaking away in the light. "I am not your master anymore" he whispered, this time it was Starkiller who had faltered, the light dimming to grey. Sideous sighed with relief, the light had shaken him, he would need a word with Vader if he were to take on another apprentice who could remember the ways of the Jedi teachings.
"My lord" the girl whispered her face disfigured with pain. "But..."
Sideous smiled his apprentice, abandoned by the Jedi and now scared of being rejected by the Sith.
"Quell your fear young one" Sideous hissed "I am mealy stating how you can now join our forces, I am no longer your teaching master so to speak. Starkiller looked up a triumphant smile appearing on her face.
"Master" she breathed with happiness and reverence the old excitement coming back.
"Arise Darth Starkiller and take your sabers he proffered two sabres from inside his robe, one Starkiller recognized instantly, the second however was a strangely foreign designed, Jedi her instincts whispered to her confusing her further.
"Master?" She asked taking the hilts.
"Look at it, what do you see?" She studied the sabre igniting it to reveal its humming oasis coloured blade, she stated at it the vibration of the hilt in her hand promising of loyal serving and battles to come. As she extinguished the blade she noticed some crude carvings on the hilt, messily done by a young in experienced force user.
"The moon and the stars" Starkiller murmured and then she closed her hand in anger clamping down on the hilt as she closed her eyes flashing back to that fateful day...the heat of Musafer, the sweat dripping down down her face as she ran her master close behind her, the trip, the fall...then the pain both physical and physiological.
"Yes" whispered Sideous smiling at the torture of the young Sith Lord.
"Master" Starkiller gasped resurfacing to the present. "Master I cannot accept these until I have conquered my fear" Sideous's smile grew wider.
"But fear is good young one, in moderation it will make you a good warrior."
"Fear is good?" Starkiller repeated confused at the new direction of not only her master's teaching but also that of the Jedi's.
"Fear is good" Sideous repeated. "Fear aids self-preservation" he explained slowly and Starkiller was reminded once again of how grandfatherly he was, how he truly was the only father figure in her life after her previous one had renounced her. After all use chided herself, evil was just a matter of perspective" she frowned slightly, a small increase appearing and filter her head in-perceptively to the side.
"You are afraid of pain, you learn it as a youngling" Sideous calmly changes tact and approaches the topic from a different angle, ever the teacher, he was rewarded by a slow nod of the head from his ever attentive pupil. "As a result it stops you doing anything stupid" he whispered emphasizing his point with a harsh poke through his training bond.
"Oh" Starkiller exclaimed suddenly understanding what her master was trying to say.
"Oh" Sideous echoed smiling. "Now you understand that you are ready?" He asked.
"Yes my lord I am ready" Starkiller said determinedly. "I am ready for my ultimate mission."
"The ultimate mission" Sideous corrected mildly before moving away from his throne and his ex-student and towards a holo-table where he activated a holo of a planet similar to Naboo but to the learned Sith Lord Starkiller could make out the subtle differences, a piece of land here, or a lake there that told her that it wasn't Naboo or any planet in her galaxy.
"This planet looks like Naboo" Starkiller started."but.." She trailed off waiting for her master to follow up on the brief.
"This is planet earth, it is not in our galaxy, or even in our time, but rather in the past and the dominant species is Homo-Saipan and is a relatively primitive planet." Starkiller looked at him curiously, she had heard of that planet before she was sure of it...she shook herself forcing her sluggish brain to concentrate on the briefing she was receiving. "Your task is to travel back and get to this planet" Sideous concluded.
"My lord" Starkiller started foreseeing a host of problems associated with the brief, or rather lack of the brief. "My lord...er how?" She asked summing all of her doubts into one word. Sideous smiled,
"Wen you reach the solar system you will have memories implanted into you as if you have always been on the planet and you will be placed in a certain location chosen based on safety. From there you will locate the device" Sideous smiled widely knowing that earth would be his ex-apprentice's true test, and his own test as well, was he a good enough teacher and manipulator to not have her turned to the light on the planet, would she kill anyone who got in her way. If she came back alive and unscathed she would certainly be a worthy replacement to Vader. Starkiller nodded unaware of her master's thought direction.
"I understand my lord" she whispered her hand clenched in a fist. "I swear I will not fail you" Sideous smiled it at her sureness the arrogance of youth he thought fondly of a time he used to be like ha,
"Of course you won't" Sideous hissed. "Go pack your things" he said dismissing her.
"Yes my lord" Starkiller said before turning on her heels and walking towards the door. As it slides open, the mechanical noises echoing around the room Sideous turns back to her.
"Starkiller" he whispered, characteristic traits from his alter ego Palpatine bleeding through his entire body language. Starkiller pauses, curious as to this new take on her master's perspective. "Be careful" he whispers, his words barely being received by Starkiller. At the warning Starkiller walked out, not accepting it nor declining, barely able to breathe past the lump in her throat.
She arrived in her quarters at record time as she walked in she was rewarded with the familiar deep metallic breathing that was her other master, or rather now her equal, and the one whom had brought her to the Jedi temple as Anakin skywalker, and had been there to stop Sideous killing her when he thought her power's too limited.
"Master" she whispered as she entered and out of habit dropping down on one knee bowing before her superior, now colleague she reminded herself but remained still on one knee waiting for her senior in age to recognise her new rank. Her actions elicited a chuckle, once maybe a handsome one, one whine would have had married women fall on their knees but that was a long time ago, back during the clone wars, a time which Starkiller only just remembered but she would never forget who Vader used to be: Anakin Skywalker, lover of padmé, her ex-master's friend, and her first crush. Now all the chuckle did was to send him into a horrendous coughing fit, forcing Starkiller to be patient while she balanced on one knee on the cold floor.
"Old habits die hard do they not" Vader said, there was no emotion in the voice, no warmth, no coldness, just the voice, but then Starkiller reminded herself, machines didn't feel emotions and Vader was more man than machine these days, rather like the old general grievous. Thought what was man was a force darker than Sideous, darker, but not as deadly.
"Sorry master" she grinned standing up, Anakin was still there though she reminded herself, a small amount, trapped in some forgotten box of Vader's mind, but there was still a small amount of good in him.
"Packing?" Vader inquired tilting his head extravagantly to one side, Starkiller nodded, being machine didn't stop him from expressing emotions, it was just in a different way.
"Yes master, lord Sideous has given me my mission" she explained, thoughts whizzing through her mind as she contemplated why the leader of the Sith had not told his apprentice, even more puzzling was Vader's reaction.
"Of course he did" then in a blink if an eye Vader had his weapon drawn and activated, Starkiller blinked dumbly at the glowing red sabre in his hand before realising that her own body had reacted even before her brain had and he deep orange of her Jedi blade and the deep red of her Sith blade flashed in front of her eyes as Vadar attacked.
whoa...Vadar attacking his new colleague over a mission which should better the Sith weird eh? please review :D
subaquakat x