Everything felt numb and cold. Slowly, very slowly an almost painful tingle spread through Badesh's chest. The tingle became a burning pain that made him grit his teeth. He felt the urge to made the uncomfortable feeling stop, he wanted to push away whoever was tormenting him. But something hindered his movement, Badesh tried to focus and used the Force to… he almost blacked out from sheer exertion. Suddenly he was released and Badesh fell hard on a metallic floor.
His limbs felt so heavy that he was barely able to lift an arm to wipe across his face. Something was wrong with his eyes, he couldn't see – everything was black but his eyes were wide open. Again Badesh tried to focus to reach out to the Force, but his usual firm grip on it was unprecise and it slipped away before he could manipulate it. His inability to do the most natural thing for a Sith … scared him. Fear and anxiety were no strangers to him, but this was different. Badesh felt helpless and this almost drove him mad with anger. As the hot fire of hate lit up in his chest he felt his strength return to him and he slowly began to perceive what was happening around him.
The biting sweet smell of burnt metal and cauterized flesh hung in the air. Combat noise was reaching his ears, he heard the steady humming of two lightsabers and blaster shots as well as muffled screams. He felt as if the whole world was wrapped in cotton, everything was damped and fuzzy. Even in his hazed mind Badesh realised that he had to act – he couldn't remember what had happened or where he was, but he knew he had to fight. It was more than that, he felt the familiar urge to fight!
Badesh staggered on his feet, blinking several times since his vision was still blurry. He channelled his hatred and felt the Force gather around him. The Force signatures became clear – two Force-users fighting about twenty opponents, not sentient beings but droids. He didn't recognize the Force-users and shortly debated with himself whether he should depose of them. In this moment two droids trained their blasters against him and began to shoot.
Badesh reached for his lightsaber, only to discover that it was missing from his belt. Quickly he deflected the blaster blots with the Force and jumped at the attacking droids. He grabbed their head and smacked them so hard together that the metal shattered. Badesh's mind was still hazy, but the rush of violence excited him and he took a deep breath. He was more focused than before and picked up a rifle from one of the droids and lunged at the next group.
Badesh used the rifle as club and hit one droid so hard that the weapon broke; with on gesture he hurled some droids towards the ceiling and clenched his fist – the chests of the droids were crushed before they even hit the floor.
With an angry growl he turned to the two Force-users who had dispatched of the remaining droids. With the droids defeated there were only the Force-users left standing. Badesh blinked a few times and his vision began slowly to return: His opponents were wearing robes and pointed their lightsabers at him. Their Force aura indicated that they were Jedi. One of them was considerably stronger than the other one. Had they imprisoned him? Before he could muse on their intentions any more he remembered something: Zakuul! The Empire had been at war with Zakuul! A fragment of a memory resurfaced in his mind: he saw Vette, Quinn and his apprentice Azhikdae running towards the Fury, everywhere was fire…
"…do we do?" asked the weaker Force-user.
She had spoken so quietly that Badesh had missed the first part of the sentence.
"Let us pass, Sith," said the stronger Force-user. She was centred and calm.
"Where are my companions?" hissed Badesh.
"We don't have time for this," replied the Jedi, "there are Zakuulan reinforcements on their way here."
"I don't care! Where are Vette and Quinn? And where is my apprentice?" yelled Badesh and hurled one of the destroyed droids at the Jedi.
The stronger Jedi deflected the droid with her lightsaber but she was surprised by the smaller part of another droid that Badesh had thrown in the wind shadow of the first larger droid piece. It hit her in the chest and Badesh used her momentary distraction to jump at her. He pushed the other Jedi away and started to choke the woman with his bare hands.
"Tell me what you know or I will crush you, you Force-forsaken Jedi scum!" he screamed.
The Jedi struggled against his grip, but her movements got slower by the second. In this very moment Badesh's vision cleared further up and he saw that the Jedi was an olive skinned Miraluka with short dark hair. She was gasping for air and he felt an immense pleasure seeing the woman suffer; a grin spread on his lips.
"Stop! If you want to see you companions again you will stop!" yelled the other Jedi.
Badesh jerked his head in his direction: She was a slender human woman wearing white face-paint.
"Tell me now or your Jedi friend dies!" growled Badesh.
"No! You would kill her anyway, Sith! You will let her go and clear the path to our shuttle – as soon as we reach the hangar I will tell you about Vette and Quinn."
Badesh loosened his grip grudgingly and the Jedi gasped for air before getting on her feet, she gestured and her lightsaber, that she had lost before, returned to her hand. Badesh expected her to attack him and so he was surprised to see that she simply put the lightsabre in her brown robes and briskly walked out of the room. The other Jedi followed suit.
Badesh took a last look around; for the first time he took notice that the room held a carbonite freezing unit. So he had been thawed out – that would certainly explain his dizziness. He still couldn't remember what exactly had happened, but it seemed that the only course of action was to follow the Jedi.
Together they fought through at least four dozen droids and when they finally arrived at the hangar bay of whatever building they were in Badesh tensed up. This was the moment the Jedi would betray him – they had reached their shuttle and didn't need him anymore.
Badesh had slowed down so that he was behind the Jedi – he still wasn't on top of his game and felt nauseous. The human began to unlock the shuttle's door by entering some code on an interface next to it. The Miraluka turned around to face Badesh.
"There are Zakuulan Knights approaching, Sith," she said quietly.
"Are you referring to the Force-users closing in from north-west?" asked Badesh while clenching his hand to a fist. By the stars he missed his lightsaber!
"Yes – we have to distract them long enough to make our escape. My Padawan is starting the engines, so this task falls to us, Sith."
Badesh crossed his arms. "I held up my end of the bargain – I demand to know about my companions."
The Jedi smiled. Badesh growled – didn't she take him seriously?
"You know that you still have to escape from his prison, we can talk later."
Badesh scoffed. "Alright, but I need a lightsaber to fight effectively – I'm still suffering from the carbonite freeze."
The Padawan jerked her head up and stared at the Jedi. She nodded and the Padawan threw him her double-bladed lightsaber. Badesh caught it and ignited it. It felt good to wield a weapon again. Badesh didn't care that the blade was green instead of his usual red.
The Knights were close now. Badesh closed his eyes and remembered all the glorious battles he had fought – he almost could smell the metallic taste of blood.
"I will take care of them – just make sure that the little Jedi isn't disturbed," growled Badesh.
In this moment one of the heavy blast doors in the hangar slid open and six Force-users in golden armour appeared. The sight of them jogged another memory in Badesh's mind – he had fought the likes of them before. But the recollection was unclear and he pushed it aside; the fight at hand was more important right now.
With one gesture he Force-pulled the first of the Knights towards him and impaled him. The man was dead before he hit the floor. Excitement flowed through Badesh, his breath quickened due to the anticipation of the coming slaughter.
The Knights spread out and attacked Badesh from different directions, but he hurled the body of the first Knight against two of his attackers and cut of the legs from another one who had jumped at him. Warm blood hit Badesh's mask and he laughed as the Knight screamed in agony.
The other Knights regrouped and seemed hesitant to attack again.
"You have never fought Sith before, right?" Badesh jeered. "You don't know of the power of the Dark Side!" he yelled and used the Force to let one of the lightsabers of the Knights fly into his left hand.
Mere seconds later the fight was over, the Knights had been inexperienced and the lack of challenge dulled Badesh's pleasure as he killed them.
The sound of a starting engine made him turn his attention back to the Jedi and the shuttle. The Miraluka still stood next to the shuttle and seemed to wait for him. Badesh was surprised; they hadn't even attempted to back-stab him.
Badesh hurried back to the shuttle and boarded it together with the Jedi. When he reached the cockpit and sat down on the co-pilot seat the Padawan had already taken off. As soon as they left the hangar Badesh saw that they were in a city; skyscrapers and neon signs were lighting the nightly sky up.
"Master, man the turrets – we have fighters incoming," said the Padawan, she sounded calm, but a shrill undertone in her voice betrayed her anxiousness.
The Miraluka nodded and disappeared in the back. Moments later the fighters had reached them and opened fire on them. Badesh had to admit that the Human was a good pilot – but they still got hit a few times before they could outrun the pursuers. The Miraluka had also been a good gunner, it seemed like they had both experience with space combat.
The human finally activated the hyper-lane jump and leaned back. Badesh registered that she actually relaxed as she took a deep breath; it irked him. Did they think that they had tamed him? Perhaps he should… no, Quinn would advise him to stay calm to gain a tactical advantage. If they were stupid enough to underestimate him, he would strike in an unexpected moment.
Badesh rose to his feet, clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace. He still had memory gaps, and also still felt weakened. He had to wait, to calm down. Vette would call it 'taking a break from being his usual sith-y self'.
"I assume you have a lot of questions, Sith," said the Miraluka as she entered the cockpit with a friendly smile.
Badesh stared at her. "Where are my companions?"
"You surprise me, Sith. I assumed that you wanted to know how we happened to free you from your carbonite prison…"
Badesh crossed his arms and remained silent.
"Allow me to introduce myself: I'm the Barsen'thor of the Jedi Order, Jetiet. And this," she gestured to the Human, "is Nadia, my Padawan." She waited for a moment before she continued. "Please state your name."
"Darth Tenebra," growled Badesh.
To his satisfaction both their Force signatures spiked, his name had startled them. He decided to take the initiative.
"I see – it wasn't your intention to free me. You were looking for someone else… someone important enough to risk your lives."
Jetiet kept her warm smile. "You are correct, Darth Tenebra. Indeed we are surprised to see you among the living. It was assumed that you died together with Darth Marr during the last outer rim battle."
Hearing Marr's name triggered another memory inside Badesh's mind: They were both standing in front of the Eternal Throne. Zakuul Knights surrounded them as they were led to Emperor Arcann.
"We almost managed to kill Arcann," said Badesh forcefully, "after the space battle we were brought before him – he wanted to taunt us, but Marr and I broke free. We killed the knights and then we engaged Arcann. He was lucky that his sister Vaylin stepped in before we impaled him. She killed Marr and then… nothing."
"Nothing?" asked Nadia, she had a quizzical expression on her face.
"I assume they captured me," replied Badesh hotly, anger boiling up in his chest. They kept him as a trophy! Him! One of the most powerful Sith in the galaxy! Like a plaything! His fury faded as he remembered something different: How he had ordered Azhikdae, Vette and Quinn to flee with the Fury when it became clear that the battle was lost.
"I have endured your questions and held up my end of your bargain – went even beyond it – and I demand that you tell me where my companions are!" he growled.
Jetiet looked at Nadia and nodded.
Nadia cleared her throat and straightened her back as if she wanted to appear taller. "I apologize, Darth Tenebra. I do not know where they are – I lied to you in order to gain your cooperation."
Badesh wasn't taken aback that he had been lied to, nor was he especially surprised that a Jedi had lied to him. What rattled him was the fact that he had complied due to a small spark of hope to hear that his lovers and his apprentice were alive and well. He let himself be manipulated by Jedi!
"I feel your anger," said Jetiet, "yet you show considerable self-constraint, Sith. Might I propose a deal?"
Badesh jerked his head in her direction. "Are you out of your mind, Jedi? You dare to lie to me and expect me not to behead you?"
"You may not know this, but since your capture five years have passed," replied Jetiet calmly.
Badesh stared at her, his mind working fast. Was she lying to him? No, what would she gain from such a lie? "What?"
"The Eternal Throne subjugated the Republic and the Empire, we are but vassals to Arcann. Our governments are mere puppets… Zakuul is slowly bleeding us dry."
Badesh tried to process the new information. "The Empire… lost the war?"
"But there is an Alliance who opposes Arcann," continued Jetiet without answering Badesh's question. "We are part of that Alliance and we would like to enlist you to our cause. Help us and we will help you find your companions."
"I can't … the Empire really lost the war?" asked Badesh once again before he pulled himself together. He eyed the Jedi before him. "I don't believe you. Even if you hadn't already lied to me, why in the galaxy would a Jedi want a Sith's help? In your eyes we are nothing but corruption and blight."
Jetiet's smile still didn't falter. "The Alliance is made of Imperials and Republicans alike, we have to look past our ideologies to fight the Eternal Throne and its fleet."
Badesh hesitated, he needed time to think. Everything was confusing, he had to check the holonet and most importantly – his holofrequency since he had lost his own holocomm device.
"I need to think about your offer, Jedi," he answered. "Where is a holoconsole?"
Jetiet looked at Nadia, she nodded and said. "I will show you, follow me."