Coruscant. 21 BBY
The Twelve Point landed on a docking station close to the Jedi temple, due to Krell's force of habit. Realizing this in the last moments before the ship landed, the Besalisk made a quick plan to prepare himself for his dubbing after Ventress was killed. Leaving his new ship with a cloak around him, the former Jedi silently entered the temple for what he hoped was the last time. His plan was to change the crystals of his light-sabres from blue and green to different colours that were less Jedi-esc. He knew of the Jedi Sentinels and their yellow sabres, and he knew that there were spare purple crystals in Temple's locked safes. All he needed was a way to get two of each without being caught. Walking down to the archives, he noticed two sentinels walking on a level above, guarding the fallen Jedi's light-sabres.
'They will do nicely.' He thought to himself as he continued to walk through the ground floor. As he neared the lifts he nodded to three other Jedi in robes, most likely padawns studying for their knighting exam. They knew nothing of his betrayal and growing hatred for the Jedi, and doubted they ever would. Krell pushed the button to call the elevator, trying not to look suspicious. As the doors opened, he sensed some kind of danger nearby. Not an enemy, an object. Whatever it was, it had been placed by a Jedi who also doubted the Republic. If he wasn't already on his own mission, he would assist this fellow traitor and take them to Dooku as another member for his cause. 'No,' he thought as the lift took him up a floor and he exited and made his way to the two sentinels. 'Whoever this Jedi is it would be a mistake to take him or her with him. They would become a rival instead of a partner and most likely a strong one. I will make my destiny on my own, without distractions like that to cloud me.'
Krell passed the two sentinels as he was thinking this and turned into another room to plan his attack. He took a book from a shelf, opened it and began to read it as if he were looking something up. He exited the room and continued his path around, looping back to the sentinels. As he passed them a second time, Krell smiled and dropped the book, turning and pushing them back with the force. The guards flew back, caught off guard by Krell's sudden attack. Before they could even get up and react properly, Krell had already drawn his light-sabres and had thrown them like javelins into their bodies. Krell turned his head around until it clicked while he took his blades out of the guard's bodies and their own light-sabres.
'Two down, two to go.' He mumbled as he opened the door the two men were previously guarding. The Besalisk wondered the halls of the fallen Jedi from the current war to wars that they had fought in the past. He needed to find a light-sabre with a purple blade, a rare thing in the Jedi temple these days as Mace Windu was the only current carrier of such a thing, and he was the next in line after Grandmaster Yoda. Krell shuddered at the thought of facing Windu, even though he was much stronger than him, he knew that he would not come out victorious. He wandered the halls for a while until he found two sabre hilts on a shelf to his left. The plaque under the hilts read:
"Jedi Masters Rose and Thorn. Fought against the powerful Darth Kroenen during the war of the Old Republic. When Rose was slain, Thorn carried his brother's blade until his own death a year later. The force is now forever with them."
Krell scoffed. He had studied the one known as Darth Kroenen closely during his padawan days and pitied those who lived at the time of his rule. He knew that Masters Rose and Thorn were brothers and had trained Kroenen as a boy, but when he lost two of his loved ones to the same man, his days as a Jedi were numbered. Killing the murderer of his loved ones, he soon met an old Sith in the depths of Coruscant, and fell to the dark side. He was dubbed the title Darth Kroenen and was ordered to collect his things at the temple and meet him at his ship. The student ran into his other master, Joseph Mantis, and sensing something was wrong, they began to duel. The dual ended with Kroenen's hand being cut off, and his new master fighting off the Jedi while escaping. Kroenen returned two years later, killing Rose and claiming Mantis' hand as revenge. He also took The Rose Holocron, and unlocked secrets that drove the former Jedi mad. It was said that those secrets led to his downfall, as only half a year later, he was slain by his Apprentice, Darth Wisp.
Krell had been told this story by his masters, as a warning to never become too attached to a person, because of the risk of losing them. He remembered it like it was yesterday it was told to him, because it was one of the only tales of the Old Republic he enjoyed. He also knew that Darth Wisp was killed by a Jedi known as Token Chain, and he brought the Sith's light-sabre to this room to keep away from the touch of any other Sith.
Krell snatched the former Sith's light-sabre from the end of the shelf, with the plaque under saying:
"Captured Sith blade. Do not remove."
The moment he pocketed the blade hilt, he heard two Jedi Sentinels discovering the bodies of their colleagues. Krell needed an escape route, and fast. Searching for a place to hide, he could hear the guards entering the archives, igniting their light-sabres for protection. Krell climbed up a wall in the shadows silently to get a better view of them and frowned at what he saw.
There were four of them, all sentinels, all of their blades drawn out. They were looking in all directions, down all of the corridors and up the walls. They also had clones guarding the front door, so if Krell attacked, they could just blast and kill him within seconds. He was trapped.
'Damn.' He said under his breath, moving slowly trying not to be detected. He had a few options, but all of them involved him getting caught, and if he left anyone alive the Jedi would know about his betrayal. He knew his priority was to take out the clones first. With them gone he could just walk out, but he doubted it was going to be that simple. Krell jumped down and rolled on the floor of the darkened room, keeping to the shadows and creeping towards the two clones. He grasped his left light-sabre and ignited at the last second, stabbing the right guard through the chest and gripping the other's neck in his empty hand. Krell smashed the troopers head against the wall multiple times, before taking off the helmet and snapping the soldier's neck, leaving the limp body on the floor. Before Krell could react, two sentinels charged at him with their light-sabres lit. Retracting his left blade out of the first trooper he attacked, Krell blocked one of the sentinel's blades, igniting the other end and his other blades.
The two sentinels fought well, jumping and dodging Krell's swings, grinning childishly at him and attacking back in the same way. It seemed that they had trained together and knew how to fight together, Krell thought while jumping back to rethink his strategy.
"Break their rhythm, and you'll break them." He finished as he leaped back into the action, concentrating on cornering the weaker sentinel. He held his sabre-staff up high, his right blade swinging down on Krell from above, his co-worker swinging in on his left side. Krell spun his blades around just in time, blocking both their attacks and pushing them in opposite directions with the force. The two men were pushed back, the weaker one hitting a wall and dropping his sabre-staff. Krell smirked at the Jedi and leaped at him, his two blades stabbing into his body, killing him instantly.
'No!' The fallen Jedi's partner screamed, pulling his sabre-staff to him with the force and igniting one end of it, with his blade the same. 'You think you're fooling me with your cloak and hood Master Krell?' The Jedi said pacing with Krell. He wasn't surprised, as he was the only Jedi able to carry two sabre-staffs and still use the force. He had given it away as soon as they had seen him.
'Well?' The Jedi asked again.
'I think you're a fool if you can't see what's coming.' Krell said back at him. He looked at him in confusion. 'Can't see what?' He said back, a worried tone in his voice. Krell laughed.
'Soon this place will be nothing but ruins. I have foreseen it. The Jedi are doomed to destroy themselves and I will be there to see it happen!' Krell yelled, before jumping on his opponent swung his blades at him from above. The Jedi cried out, blocking both of his blades with his own and swinging back. The two fought elegantly, Krell jumping and spinning both of his blades round at speed with the Jedi blocking and parrying almost with ease.
'I have fought General Grievous and survived, traitor, I may not have your skill, but I'm damn sure that I can match it with my own!' He yelled at the Besalisk, before igniting the other end of his dead friend's blade and cut at Krell's stomach. It wasn't enough though, and Krell used this attack to his advantage to force push him against the wall, and keep him there by choking him. The Jedi tensed up, unable to move because of Krell's strong Force power. Krell sheathed his blades and concentrated on choking his opponent, moving his blades away from him so he couldn't fight back. He walked towards him, holding out the hand that was choking the Jedi with the Force. He loosened his grip slightly when he was in front of him and knelt down to his level, and smiled in a way that made the young Jedi cringe.
'I don't give a damn if you've fought General Grievous or Master Yoda, because at the end the war, this temple will be up in flames, and I will be holding the torch. If you think that I'm going to kill you now, you'd be wrong. I'm going to make sure that the council know that they brought this upon themselves. I want them to know that they helped me start my true destiny, and that those clones they put me in charge of, triggered it.' Krell whispered in the boy's ear. 'And finally…' he pulled back, grasping the top of his head,
'I want them to know that one day, I will come back here to finish what I started!' he shouted before hitting the young Jedi's head against the wall, knocking him out. Krell then ran for the exit, not caring if he was seen by the other guards, who were obviously hard of hearing if they couldn't hear the duel that had just taken place. He had what he needed, now he just had to find his target.
…
Asajj Ventress walked the underworld of Coruscant in a cloak and her new helmet, avoiding the attention of the homeless scum. She had been looking for a job for a long time, and had finally got a contact that was good enough to trust for now. She needed more credits if she was ever going to get of the planet and take revenge on her former master, Dooku. Hunting bounties wasn't always fun, but it beat doing dirty work for the old man. Then there was Grievous that damned Kaleesh. Ventress had made a mental note to finish what she started with him once Dooku was dead. She had fought him with two and four light-sabres before and had survived, so she knew his style. It was just a matter of force power. She needed to master her skill in the force and prove herself to Darth Sidious, maybe when she killed both Dooku and Grievous, the Dark Lord would take her as his next apprentice and treat her as an equal instead of a lackey. Perhaps she would even end the war, and finally defeat Skywalker and Kenobi.
Ventress continued to walk down the street, noticing the obvious lack of gang members and dealers around. She felt like someone was watching her from a distance, but didn't recognise who or what. Whoever it was, she didn't care; besides she had her light-sabres and could kill them without stress if they attacked. She kept walking down the silent street, with the occasional ship flying above her. She felt a wind from a nearby vent and panicked for second, gripping one of her light-sabres and igniting it at the vent. She grumbled and sheathed it, but before she could place it back on her belt, she heard someone laugh. It wasn't a pleasant laugh as well, it was the kind of laugh that sent shivers down the spines of the toughest in the galaxy. Ventress ignited her light-sabre again, taking her usual battle stance.
'Whoever you are, you're making a huge mistake.' She called out into the darkness surrounding her. The laughter came again, but closer. Ventress moved around, using her blade as a light source in the dark areas. 'Show yourself coward!' She shouted again, force pushing boxes with her free hand to see if her follower was hiding behind them. She swore under her breath as the laugh went off again, even closer than before. Then she heard it. The humming sound of light-sabres, blades that Ventress had never heard before. They were above her, getting closer. Before Ventress could even think about it, her new opponent landed in front of her. She drew her second light-sabre from her belt and ignited it, crossing the first blade over with it in a guarding position.
'Who are you? A Jedi sent here to kill me?' Ventress asked her hooded attacker.
'Of sorts' He replied. 'I'm here to kill you, but I am no Jedi.' The man said. His voice was bold and deep, like Dooku's when he gave commands. Ventress hid her fear and stood up straight.
'So, Dooku has a new lackey. Are you here to rid of the competition? Because I'm out of that business' She said as they both started to circle around the empty street. 'Tell Dooku that I have nothing that he wants. My days in the war are done!'
'Then why do you plot his murder?' The man said as he circled in rhythm with Ventress. The Dathomarian frowned, resisting the urge not to flinch. 'I sense your hatred for Dooku, it strengthens you, gives you a need to survive. Release it now, and take your revenge on him!' The hooded man ordered her. It was a provocation that Ventress fell for, as she ran into him with her blades aiming for his hips. The blades were blocked easily by two light-sabre blades, one yellow, and the other purple. Ventress was surprised that Dooku allowed the man to keep his blades those colours, as she originally had green and blue light-sabres. As she pulled out and swung in for another attack, two more of the same colours appeared, but from the same blades.
'Impossible!' She shouted as she jumped back trying to calculate the chances of someone carrying two sabre-staffs. The man laughed again, cutting his robes off of him. As they fell to the ground, the attacker revealed his face. He was a Besalisk, middle aged by the looks of it. The smile on his face sent the same shiver down her back, just like his laughter. Ventress knew her chances were slim. If this guy was any good with those things then she wouldn't be able to do anything to improve her chances. Cutting the hilts would just give him four blades, making him a Grievous style fighter. Her opponent spun his two staffs towards Ventress, making cuts in the ground. Finally, they clashed blades, the Besalisk making it clear that he wasn't going to make it easy for her. Every time Ventress blocked one of his blades, he would turn the hilts around and attack with the other side. Ventress kept stepping back a she struck at the Besalisk, his blows completely overpowering her. She jumped over her opponent, hoping to cut at his back, but the man blocked her again with ease, this time ending the duel.
After blocking Ventress' attack at his back, he disarmed her, the blades sheathing instantly. As soon as she realised what had happened, Ventress had been pushed back onto a wall from the Besalisk's force power. She could feel his power in the force grow as her inevitability grew closer. Ventress accepted her fate, and dropped to her knees.
…
Krell laughed as Ventress fell onto the ground, knowing that she was defeated. She had fought well for someone who was out matched in every way. The only time she could have gained an advantage is if she had seen him coming and had attacked as soon as he had landed; but because of the shear surprise of the attack she couldn't. It had taken Krell ages to track Ventress down, and for all that it was worth, the fight wasn't as good as he expected. He sheathed his left light-sabre and walked towards his target, tutting her as she stayed in the same position.
'Tsk, tsk, Ventress, I expected more from the former apprentice of Count Dooku.' He mocked, his right light-sabre ready to strike at her if she made a move. 'But at least you've helped me prepare for the day he betrays me. And because of that, you shall die knowing that Dooku will too. By my hand if it comes to it.' To Krell's surprise Ventress took her helmet off and looked up at him, smiling, yet also crying. She stuttered for a while, before simply saying: 'Make it hurt.' She then lowered her head, and waited for her to die
After that, Krell made the killing blow, cutting at the back of her neck, the head rolling off her body and the rest of her body collapsing. Krell felt his power grow, the world around him becoming silent
Asajj Ventress, was finally dead.
