RAQAK'S REQUEIM
Title: Raqak's Requeim (PG-13)
Author Name: Emimar
Characters: Raqak Sivrak (oc), Mizet (oc), Vader
Era: 5 years before A New Hope
Catagory: Action
Summary: Darth Vader tracks down the outlawed Jedi, Raqak Sivrak and the former Senator Mizet on the planet, Tynna.
Disclaimers: I have not, am not, and will not recieve any profit from the creation of this story. I do not own any of the canon Star Wars characters that feature in this story.
The old Shistavanen couple seemed unlikely inhabitants of the world of Tynna. Much had happened in their lifetime. A Republic had fallen, a victim of it's own success and an evil Empire had risen in it's place. Like a cancer, the agents of Palpatine had hunted down and killed the Jedi Knights.
The male of the couple was a Jedi Knight himself, the female was Force sensitive, two of the last of their kind, in one way or another.
Now the light that was once the Jedi had almost been extinguished, but like the stars themselves continued to burn, the darkness unable to block out their light entirely. If they weren't careful, however, that light would disappear for ever into the black hole that was Palpatine.
The old male sighed, wondering what had gone so badly wrong to cause this cancer in the galaxy. Had it been the sheer greediness of organisations like the Trade Federation that had given Palpatine the chance and reason to turn the Republic into the corrupt government it had been in it's last days and then weakened it so much that the cancer of the Empire could take hold? Even now he didn't have those answers.
They had been living in isolation for little over fourteen years and it was a miracle that they had remained undiscovered for so long but the old male now sensed the end was near, at least for him.
Sensing the uneasiness in her companion, the female asked "What is troubling you, my mate?"
"Nothing." he lied.
But there was something wrong and she knew it. "I have been thinking about our two sons, Raqak," Mizet said, trying to get him to open up to her and tell her what was on his mind.
"You miss them, don't you?"
"I miss the chance of being a real mother to them," she replied.
It was those sons, or at least the youngest one was the reason they were still alive. Once she had realised she was pregnant for the second time she had resigned as the senator of Uvena III and told Raqak. The Jedi had then told the Jedi Council (admitting to something like this is like confessing to a murder in their eyes) and they banished him from the Order for five years. That five years had turned into nearly fifteen years because of the destruction of the Jedi Order by Palpatine and the traitor, Darth Vader. The Emperor proceeded to wipe out all trace of the Jedi, in the process loosing the knowledge of Raqak's existence and that of his older son, Shirak, who had been banished from the Jedi Order for five years for marrying a Shistavanen singer. That Raqak knew about this and didn't tell the Council straight out was probably the reason for the banishment.
Mizet had tracked down Raqak's relatives on Uvena III shortly after giving birth to their second son and had given the care of her baby over to them, before beginning the search for Raqak himself, which had eventually led her to the planet of Tynna. Their second son had no idea of who his real parents were, or of the heritage he carried inside him. Perhaps that was the best way he could survive. Raqak had planned to take him to the Temple to be trained when the five years of exile had been up but the destruction of the Jedi had changed that and Raqak had decided for his own protection that he stayed with his relatives.
For more than ten years, Raqak and Mizet had been wondering the plains and forests of Tynna together.
Now, Raqak sensed he was near, the traitor to all the Jedi, Anakin Skywalker. Raqak held no hatred towards him, nor anger, only sadness for the Dark Lord, for what had happened to him that had turned him from the slave boy who had wanted to help a Queen save her people into one of the most evil men in the Galaxy. He realised just how easily it could have been him or Shirak that the Emperor would have chosen to manipulate.
The risk of being seduced by the Darkside was the price you pay for falling in love (or feeling any kind of love, for that matter). The love itself wasn't evil. It proved that you could place someone before yourself, but like all things, love has it's dark side too. It makes a Jedi vulnerable to manipulation or distraction. An enemy could use family ties to frighten you by threatening to do them harm. There was always the possibility that a pregnancy or other family emergency could lead a Jedi to distraction at a critical moment in a battle. Lastly, a family member could die and if it was one you were particularly close to (say a child, partner, parent or sibling) then that can lead you away from the light.
That was just the problems coming with love and family itself. Sometimes what you think is love (when speaking in a sexual sense) can just be nothing more than an obsession with someone. In such circumstances it is always doomed to fail and so can cause hurt and hate and anger.
Between a Master and padawan it is always dodgy. There is an abuse of power going on there as well as the fact you place trust and responsibility in the Master by putting the padawan in their care. It is a betrayal of that trust when the Master pursues a relationship with the padawan.
That was the reason why Raqak had never took Mizet on as his padawan when he met her. Even if the Council had allowed him to train her, he was already in love with her.
As a result of these complications it was easier for the Jedi Council to say that Jedi can not know love, anger and hate. Of course that would be fine if Jedi were creatures without emotions, but denying that those feelings exist in Jedi can be just as damaging to a person as the grief of loosing someone close to you.
Without love (i.e. compassion, selflessness, caring etc) a Jedi can't function properly as the guardians of the Old Republic and that was why the Order fell.
Sometimes extinction has to occur for life to move on, to evolve into new forms and just as the animals and plants are subject to those laws, so are the Jedi themselves. The question was, were there enough Force sensitives left for the Jedi to evolve, or had they become so few that the Order was doomed to extinction forever?
"I have been expecting you, Anakin," Raqak faced the Dark Lord with no fear, just acceptance of his fate. "It is not too late for you to turn back to the Light side."
The Dark Lord of the Sith advanced, with only his laboured breathing aided by a machine, could be heard. It was sunset now, the light of the fading sun reflecting off the polished helmet that was Darth Vader. The being that was Anakin Skywalker was hidden deep inside the mask, lost and maybe unable or unwilling to return. After the crimes the Dark Lord had committed, Raqak wasn't surprised that the Jedi's true self would want to stay lost.
Vader ignited his lightsabre, the eerie hum blending with Vader's harsh breathing. It reminded Raqak of a perversion of one of Auoura's songs, the Requiem so many Jedi had heard just before their death.
Raqak waited until the last possible moment before letting his green lightsabre spring to life, only just managing to intercept the scarlet blade of the Dark Lord before it cleaved through him. The blades clashed, filling the world with the sound of their fury as the two combatants leaned into each other like two male quivry fighting for dominance in the breeding season before breaking apart and beginning the deadly dance to the Requiem in earnest.
Raqak fought defensively, having already resigned himself to his fate but if there was a possibility of him bringing Vader back to the light then he would do it.
"You are stronger than I thought, old one, but you will need more than that to defeat me. Release your anger, only then can you overcome me."
"Defeating you is not my intent. I am content with my fate but I can feel the conflict within you. You dishonour Padme's memory by serving the Sith."
"Padme is dead and no longer has any meaning to me."
Raqak felt anger rise in his opponent and he had a difficult time deflecting Vader's angry barrage of blows.
"If she has no meaning to you then why do you get angry at the mention of her name?" Raqak challenged Vader when his assault had died down. "Even has a padawan you liked to make everything difficult for yourself. By destroying the last of the Jedi you are destroying yourself."
As the light of the sun began to fade and the sky turn to the deep blue of twilight, the ghostly light cast by their lightsabres began to grow in intensity. Raqak's eyes adjusted accordingly to the failing light and he could see almost as well in the daylight, but that didn't give him an advantage over the Sith Lord as the helmet allowed him to see just as clearly as his opponent. With the onset of darkness, Raqak felt himself dying with the light.
They exchanged more blows, Raqak being pushed back by Vader's relentless fury. Had Raqak been younger, he would have been able to put up a better fight. Age had slowed him down. He needed to break up Vader's rhythm and to catch his breath. His muscles burned from the exertion of continuous fighting. But the Dark Lord gave him no opportunity to do that and sensing the inevitable victory began to press home his advantage.
The stars had become visible now and even in the darkness light could not be chased away fully.
Near by, stood Mizet, who had been watching the battle since it had started. Sensing him weakening, she activated her lightsabre, the one that had once belonged to Master Naja, a Jedi that had once been Raqak's closest friend besides herself and the teacher of Shirak.
She was untrained and had little hope of holding her own against the Dark Lord, but she had to try anyway. She brought her blade crashing down on Vader's, hoping to distract him. Raqak shouted at her to stay out of the fight, but it was too late. Vader sliced through her with no trouble at all.
It was at that moment of her death that Raqak became distracted and lowered his defences. The most terrible pain he had ever felt before in his life cut through him as the life went out of her body. The next instant he was gone too.
Vader bent down and picked up both lightsabres of his opponents. It had been all too easy.
Shirak woke with a start and let out a long, mournful howl. Auoura stirred beside him and opened her eyes. She knew him well enough by now to know something wasn't right. Every time Vader killed one of the remaining Jedi, Shirak felt it. She added her howl to his, calling their son, Tek to them.
"What happened?" She asked, when his howling had subsided.
"Vader killed my father this time" He replied, with a sadness she had never seen in him before. A sleepy Tek entered the room. It was dark but they needed no light to see.
"We have to go after Vader before he kills more Jedi," Tek said.
Shirak understood his son's anger and tried to calm him. "No, Vader will come to us when he is ready."
His words did nothing to quell his son's impatience. Tek stormed out and Shirak watched him leave, dread filling him.
"I don't know how much longer I can keep him from confronting Vader," Shirak turned to Auoura. She ran her hand through the fur on his head.
"He's young and does not always listen to what we tell him. You wasn't much different either, I recall."
"No, I guess I wasn't, was I?" he replied. He looked past her and three glowing shapes hovered near the wall. His heart lifted as he recognised who they were. One was his Master Naja and the other two were his parents. They smiled back at him and Shirak got the feeling that they were happy now that their exile was over, that Raqak and his mother now had joined the rest of the Jedi. He knew that one day he would rejoin them too, but that was a long time away yet, there was still much for him to do.
"Hay, you still with me?" Auoura asked after a while. "You aren't seeing blue ghosties, again, are you?"
The three spirits disappeared before his eyes and Shirak's focus was back on her again. He grinned at her. He should be sad, knowing that his parents weren't around any more but that wasn't so. Auoura looked at him in confusion.
"They are both happy now that they are with the rest of the Jedi. They are even cool about us being together," Shirak said.
Auoura understood enough about the strangeness of her mate to know that he was talking about his parents and that "They" were the other Jedi.
"You are weird, Shirak," Auoura said, kissing him.