A/N this is going to be a long one. Huge thank you to all those who followed and added the new sith to their favourite story's list. It really encourages me to keep on writing, special thank you to rexwriter and force magic who posted reviews J I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations
Chapter 2: Betrayal and hypocrisy
Darth Xeraph growled in annoyance. When she joined the Sith she was not prepared to return to the temple of the Jedi to spy on the old fools that resided inside of it. Her only other orders had been to try and find other Jedi to turn the dark side. That would be interesting but she knew that it would take a while before she found a good opportunity to turn anyone. She had received four hours of sleep before being awoken by the bitch that had rejected her: Obi Wan Kenobi. She knew she was being sent to the council for another lecture on how to control her darkness. The fools did not realise that she was already absorbed in it!
The turbo lift to the council chamber was deathly silent. Xeraph spent her moment alone hiding her true nature from the fools on the council. The meeting was the same standard bullshit.
"Learn to control your darkness, you should." Master Yoda stated. "Be careful not to let it overwhelm you." Mace Windu added in. It was not anything Xeraph thought was worth listening to, she tuned out and barely caught what Yoda said at the end
"Assist you in overcoming your darkness, a member of the council shall." The green alien spoke in his backwards-galactic basic.
Xeraph let out a sigh of relief after exciting the council chamber. It was not that they could sense her darkness but all of the masters especially Yoda looked like they were reading into everything she said. It was extremely unnerving. She wondered which member of the Jedi council was going to 'assist' her, Xeraph hoped it was not Yoda. As Xeraph walked down the corridor a Jedi knight called to her:
"Siri, just want to say: I hope you did not get to dressed down by the council. See you around!" Xeraph merely nodded in agreement and kept on walking. She felt a message coming from her master:
"Lady Xeraph, come to our meeting place last night. The Jedi in their wisdom have decided to try and ambush us, we should teach them a lesson." Lord Sidious snarled.
"Yes master." Xeraph replied; it would be good to test her power against the weakness of the Jedi.
That night
Xeraph took the same journey as she did last night. She walked past the body of the beggar she had choked; already he had been stripped of all of his possessions. When she expanded her senses she could sense three Jedi lying in wait for her.
"You shall defeat them all lady Xeraph. Or you will suffer the consequences…" Her master's instructions were clear and lady Xeraph had already formed a plan in her mind. She walked into the chamber with her hood off. Immediately the Jedi released their feeble cloaking inside the force.
"Siri what are you doing here?" the most experienced of the Jedi asked.
"Siri? Siri is dead; she died here on this very spot. And you will be next!" The Sith lady grinned savagely before moving into a great force assisted leap and striking down the Jedi who had asked her the question. The second Jedi soon followed taking a blow straight to the chest. Xeraph launched a force push at the third sending his hood flying off. She was about to strike him down as well but then Xeraph realised that this was the Jedi who had taken the time to greet and encourage her. Xeraph hesitated just for a moment and in that time the knight blurted out a question:
"Siri why are you attacking us? We are your friends!" The Jedi roared.
"Siri is dead! I am Darth Xeraph! And you will die!" the young sith roared before sending her sabre through the Jedi's throat.
Xeraph bowed in front of her master. She could sense the rage building up in him like a storm and she was not at all surprised when the storm struck.
"You hesitated!" Sidious spat. "A sith shows no mercy, a sith is ruffles and when a sith has an enemy within there reach they will destroy them!" Sidious roared. "Now for your first lesson!" As Sidious said this he unleashed a blast of lightning from his fingertips. It was more painful than anything Xeraph had ever experienced. It was like some foul beast was ripping apart every cell in Xeraph's body at the same time. "You are weak, pathetic and useless. Prove me wrong girl! I challenge you to! There are many other Jedi I can turn; you are a tool to me! You are the most useless rat I have ever encountered!" Sidious taunted. Xeraph grunted in pain, before she was just enduring the bolts of pure pain but now she harnessed her inner anger. How dare Sidious call her weak! She would show him how powerful she was. First Xeraph deflected the bolts letting the wall take the full force of the lightning. Then she brought together all of her rage and hate against Sidious and the Jedi condensing it into one great mass of power. Then she sent all the power out through her hands, the intention had been to create a force push but instead she ended up with something much more powerful: force lightning. The blast caught Sidious completely off guard; he had been expecting retaliation but nothing on this scale. Xeraph grinned in triumph and drew her purple sabre preparing for the kill. As she brought the sabre down she felt her entire body stop as if some kind of invisible force was halting her.
"Very impressive Lady Xeraph. Very impressive." Sidious complimented.
"Your impressed that I almost killed you?" Xeraph asked.
"No, I am impressed that you were willing to kill me. One day the apprentice will gain more power than the master and the apprentice will overthrow the master. You could be that apprentice. If you proved unwilling to kill me I would try a different method. That is the way of the sith and don't forget it girl."
Xeraph bowed her head. It made perfect sense why Sidious treated her the way he did.
"I am also impressed that you managed to master force lightning at such an early level in your training. You will become a powerful sith. But remember my words girl; hesitate and your reward will be pain, fail and your reward will be pain and betray the sith will reward you with pain."
Xeraph kept her head bowed "Do you have a mission master?" She asked.
"No" Sidious spat. "Tonight we train."
The Jedi temple
Xeraph groaned. Sidious had pushed her to her limit last night and she was feeling the repercussions of it now. It sickened her to be surrounded by so much light. She wished to touch the dark side even for a moment but she knew that there was a very high chance that she would be noticed. Her comm started beeping.
Wearily she switched it on "Siri Tachi?" It was Shaak Ti on the other end of the line.
"Yes" Xeraph replied. Of all the masters on the council Shaak was by far the most bearable.
"Come to my chambers when you have finished getting up. We have much too discuss young one.
"Yes mater" Xeraph replied.
As Xeraph walked into Shaak Ti's chamber she almost walked slap bang into another knight. "My apologies young one. Don't get to bored with Shaak, she can be quite a pain sometimes." And with that the Knight walked out.
"Who was that?" Xeraph asked referring to the knight that just walked out.
"Him? He is knight Kitnandor. He is my lo- best friend and a close confident in many ways." Shaak replied. Xeraph picked up Shaak's hesitation. The Sith smiled; it would seem that this Jedi master held many secrets.
"So tell me Siri, how are you controlling your darkness?" Shaak asked. Her heart was not in it; the girl was simply not opening up.
"Fine" Xeraph muttered.
"Very well. We shall begin with some calming meditation." Shaak smiled. It was as the Togruta master said. Calming meditation was frustrating for Xeraph. It forced her to bathe in the light, to bask in its 'brilliance'. Xeraph endured it for about an hour before she dared ask Shaak a question.
"Master, why is the dark side banned?" Shaak glanced up sharply. She had been waiting for a question along those kinds of lines for a while.
"Well you see Siri. The dark side destroys one's greatest qualities. If we were to give into it we would destroy ourselves in the process." Shaak answered.
"But what if you could control the power of the dark side without it controlling you?" Xeraph asked "That way the Jedi could use more power to save people." Xeraph was not actually interested in the Jedi embracing the dark side. She just merely wanted to see their philosophy on the topic so she could turn it against them. Shaak took her time in answering.
"No one has ever been able to become a sith without losing themselves in the darkness. You pose an interesting question but ultimately unless someone can prove the council wrong the darkness will remain to be banned." Shaak sighed, she knew her answer was not satisfying the young girl. Xeraph fired another question, one that was even harder for Shaak to repel.
"Why is attachment banned?" Xeraph asked.
"Some in the council believe that attachment is a path to the dark side. One may join the dark side to save those they love or to avenge them. That is unfortunately the way it has been for a very long time. We are finished for the day Siri. Meditate on what I have told you and come out wiser because of it."
Xeraph bowed. "Yes master." Her conversation with Shaak had left her much to consider. Shaak was not as firm with the code as the 'masters' on the council might think. Xeraph was prepared to exploit to exploit that but it would take a lot of effort and a fair amount of luck.
That night
Jedi knight Kitnandor slipped down the corridors of the Jedi temple. He snuck out of the Jedi temple every night along the same route. Then he used a combination force jumps and careful timing to reach his apartment. It was a two room flat. Two chairs and a table, all of which were second hand, a cooker that was never used, a Holo that was about ten years out of date and a bed for two. It was on this bed that the Jedi waited. It took a few hours until what he was waiting for arrived. As Shaak Ti walked into their apartment she already knew that Kitnandor had arrived.
"Took you long enough. How was your conversation with Siri?" Kitnandor asked.
"Talk later." Shaak replied.
The council meetings had been driving Shaak crazy lately. He would give her some time to unwind and then they would talk. "Sure! I need to unwind as well." Kitnandor said. Shaak nodded in appreciation to her partner.
A few hours later Shaak was completely relaxed. Kitnandor felt like it was time to broach the topic of Siri to Shaak. "Well then, how was your conversation with Siri?"
Shaak scowled at her partner. "It was bad. It was very bad."
"How so?"
"She kept on asking so many difficult questions! How am I meant to tell her that she should follow the code to the letter when I spend almost every night breaking it!" Shaak shouted. "And that's not it. Now all the bloody council can talk about is this dark presence that keep on appearing! Perhaps instead of talking about it they could confront it!" Shaak shouted with rage.
"I understand your feelings. But what can I do about it? I sensed the darkness last night. Even someone as weak in the force as me could tell that it was not good." Kitnandor replied trying not to aggravate his partner further.
"Maybe you could stop being so fucking neutral! Perhaps you could get Siri off my shoulders so I don't have to be a hypocrite every day! Perhaps you could confront the darkness so the council can stop forcing me to stay in their meetings. There are many things you could do for me take your pick."
"Why are you worrying about Siri so much? To my knowledge you have only had one conversation with her." Kitnandor asked still trying to stay neutral in Shaak's violent outbursts.
"Her darkness. She tries to hide it from us but I can see that anyone with even a decent level of manipulation could pull her to the dark side. The last thing we need is another dark Jedi running about."
Kitnandor sighed. Shaak was tired Kitnandor could sense it. "Shaak maybe you should sleep now. I find that a good nights rest can allow you to have a new perspective on things. Shaak grumbled reluctantly but she did as she was asked.
The next morning
Shaak rolled over in bed. Kitnandor rolled over in bed next to her. She could sense him awakening. She had been awake a few hours already and she had a plan. It would hit two birds with one stone: get rid of Siri and give Kitnandor something to do whilst they made some money to leave the order.
"What are you thinking about?" Kitnandor asked.
"I think I may have an idea." Shaak said. "In a week all the Jedi initiates will duel in the courtyard of the temple. Siri is old enough to do so now. When she duels inside the courtyard you will select her as your padawan." Shaak said.
"Hold up! You want me to select Siri as my padawan?! Are you crazy?! If one of the most 'calm' and 'moderate' masters cannot tame her then what hope do you think a radical like me has?! Anyway there is no way the council would approve of me taking a padawan." Kitnandor exclaimed.
"It is because you are so radical that she is more likely to open up to you. She will ask a Jedi like you questions that she would be too afraid to ask a Jedi on the council. That is your unique advantage. Besides since when have you been known to give a crap about what the council thinks?" Shaak stated explaining her logic well.
"That is true but-"
"And I also recall you saying that you would be willing to help me. I know that getting Siri out of the equation would help me greatly." Shaak stated.
At this point Kitnandor simply gave up trying to argue. Despite him being a great military strategist he was no match for his partner in an all out argument. There was no point even trying. "You're a manipulative bastard Shaak Ti and if you were a Sith I would do everything possible to stay out of your way. I'll do it for you but after Siri is knighted we need to talk about the future." Kitnandor stated.
Shaak nodded. Kitnandor was right.
Inside the 500th republican Sidious finished his meditation. He had been eavesdropping on the Jedi couple for a while now and he found their conversation very interesting. Her found it very amusing how they were trying to turn Xeraph from the darkness. They did not realise it was too late to make her a Jedi again. Sidious turned his meditation to Maul; he had already done as he predicted. If Sidious could manipulate Maul correctly he could use him to gain another apprentice. The more sith he had inside the Jedi order the better.
All was going according to plan.
A/N Well what did you think? Love it or hate it? Whichever one it was please tell me via PM or review. On the note of reviews I would just like to say that they hugely encourage me to continue writing so if you want faster chapters drop a review. I will try and get the next chapter up ASAP but I make no promises.
