Chapter 3: Master and apprentice
The Dark Jedi is named Darth Branu and I plan on doing a lot with this character. The ship he flies isn't in any Star Wars canon. It's of my own design, unlike The Ebon Hawk, which was in Knights of the Old Republic.
Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen lied or Star Wars.
High above the skies of Korriban, a lone, small, black ship appeared from above the clouds. It was a light ship that wasn't nearly as big as the Ebon Hawk but it could carry a few people. The ship swooped down and began flying towards the settlement known as Dreshdae. It was a small community that smugglers, freighters, and hopeful Sith would reside. Those that did wish do join the Sith academy were known as "Hopefuls." The academy itself was very similar to what it was during the Jedi civil war.
The black ship began to hover above the landing port before it had deployed its landing gear. It slowly lowered itself on the ground before it had been shut off. The door on the back of the ship opened and the ramp lowered.
The pilot was the Dark Jedi who had attacked Kouta, Bando and Tasriq. He stepped out of the ship and used his wrist pad to seal his ship, "The Black Tide". He turned to the Duros guarding the doorway to the port for the pilots arriving. He put his hands in his pockets and walked towards him.
"{Back so soon?"} the duros asked. "{I assumed everything went well?}"
"Yes." The dark Jedi diclonius said. His voice reflected his young age of 21. "I need to see my master. It's urgent."
"{Ok ok. I'm getting the door.}"
The doorway to Dreshdae opened quickly to reveal that things are pretty organized. The female human was working at the desk, a rodian was running a Weapons kiosk, and pilots as well as hopefuls were conversing amongst each other.
The Dark Jedi walked past the desk lady, just nodding in affirmation that his mission was a success. He had passed the weapons kiosk rodian, who had learned the hard way not to bother him. He went down a few corridors of hallways leading past the cantina called "The Drunk Side." It was the only cantina in Dreshdae and it was worth it since the drinks were pretty good. He planned to stop and get a drink later.
At the end of the very same hall was the door leading to the outside bridge to the Sith academy. It was guarded by a single Sith rifleman and a few hopefuls trying to get in, but to no avail. The Dark Jedi crossed the bridge and approached the stone doorway and looked at the rifleman.
"Go on in, Lord Rizeal is expecting you." The rifleman said.
The stone door opened revealing dark, dimly lit hallways which were perfect for training Sith apprentices. The Dark Jedi entered the hallways and the door shut behind him. He started walking down the narrow halls, filled with the sounds and sights of the dark side of the force at work. Trainees and full-on Sith master were practicing swordplay with their red and orange lightsabers, learning how to manifest their inner Sith, and even learning how to interrogate their prisoners in a very "creative" fashion. He walked past all of the masters and apprentices and towards the other end of the academy. This was less of a training area and more of a social area. At the end of the hall was a large staircase that led up to the Sith Lord's room.
His name was Darth Rizeal. He was the Sith Lord that was in charge at the Dreshdae Sith academy. He was notorious for being not just cruel and evil, but by that he had stayed true to the Sith ways. Most Sith Lords worked in their own way that devaited from traditional Sith standards and code. He also tortured people both physically and mentally.
The dark Jedi stepped towards the stairs, ascending at a casual manner. He reached the room of his master, who had been eagerly awaiting him. He pressed his hand to the scanner and allowed it to read his palm.
"~DNA match confirmed~" The feminine sounding AI said.
The metallic door slid open to reveal a large throne room that overlooked the excavation site by the tombs of the great Sith Lords like Exar Kun and Naga Sadow. The room had an adjacent room that led to Rizeal's bed chamber. In front of the large window that overlooked the excavation, was a throne and the man who sat in it was none other than Darth Rizeal himself.
The white haired diclonius dark Jedi knelt down in a respective and courteous manner.
"I am here, my master." He said. "The mission was a success. Tasriq Vadras is dead."
"Very good, Darth Branu." A low raspy voice said.
The throne seat turned to reveal that Rizeal was a tall, muscular man who had seemed to age to about his fifties. He wore dark red robes and a red cloak over it. His hair was like a red Mohawk that had grown down to his lower back. His skin was pale white and he had two red streaks painted across his cheeks.
"Rise." Darth Rizeal spoke.
The Dark Jedi, also known as Darth Branu, rose to his feet. His black hooded cape dragged across the stone floor as he did.
"Tell me, do you know why I sent you to kill that man?" Rizeal asked.
"No master." Branu replied. "I didn't give it any thought."
Branu hadn't cared why he was sent to assassinate Tasriq, but now he was curious.
"Ten years ago, a small Sith outpost had been raided by Republic soldiers and Jedi alike. Tasriq was one of the soldiers who had been there. His squad was assigned with acquiring the codex for the development of artificial midi-chlorians. He was unaware of the fact that the codex was designed to be engrained in a certain person in the case of invasion.
"I see." Branu said.
"Unfortunately, there was no way to retrieve the codex from his mind, and we couldn't allow the Republic or the Jedi to gain access to the things he knew. He knew what the codex said. We had been so close to perfecting artificial midi-chlorians."
"You needn't worry now, master." Branu reassured. "I plunged my saber deep into his chest cavity. He's dead now."
"Good, good." Darth Rizeal praised.
"Master, can I ask you something?" Branu spoke up.
"Yes, my young apprentice?"
"I did run into resistance at the base. It was a Republic commando who was strong in the force. he carried a lightsaber and his skill seemed to outmatch my own." Branu said. "He seemed to know what my species is."
"Hmm... For all we know, he could." Rizeal spoke. "So what do you want to do?"
"If I may master, I would like to find him so I could learn more about my heritage." Branu asked.
"I suppose you've earned the right to learn more, and I don't have any other tasks for you right now. You have my permission to seek this man, But be careful; he seems like he is a formidable foe."
"Thank you, my master." Branu said.
Later,
Branu was sitting at a booth table at Dreshdae's cantina "The Drunk Side" waiting for his drink to arrive. He was going to relax a bit before he departed for coruscant. He was leaning back in his seat casually allowing his eyes to wander the room, observing the other patrons. There were many hopefuls and smugglers alike all getting completely hammered.
"Getting drunk only makes it harder to get into the academy. Foolish hopefuls." Branu thought.
"Hey Branu." A female voice came from behind him. Branu didn't even look back.
"What do you want, Tila?" Branu said coldly. A female Twi'lek put her hands on his shoulders and her cheek against his.
"Come now, no need to be so cold." She spoke in a seductive tone.
Tila was a light purple skinned Twi'lek female with dark purple skin paint decorating her head tails. She was wearing a standard Sith uniform and a standard Twi'lek head gear.
"Mind if I just sit with you?" She whispered seductively in his ear.
"Fine. I don't care." Branu replied, his eyes not looking at her.
She took the seat on the other side of the table that he was sitting at. The relationship between Branu and Tila wasn't romantic at all, despite the fact that Tila has flirted with him on several occasions. While he hadn't really responded to her advances, he did care about her.
"Something seems to be bothering you." Tila spoke up after a few moments of silence had passed.
"How can you tell?" Branu replied.
"I might not be a dark Jedi, but I still can read your facial expression."
"It's nothing."
Tila leaned forward in her seat, resting her elbows on the table.
"Come on, I wouldn't ask if I didn't care. You can tell me anything." She said as she touched one of his hands.
"I think I found someone who knows what my race is."
"That's great!" Tila said. "Who is it?"
"A republic commando who is capable of using the Force and he even carries a lightsaber."
Tila's smile slowly withered upon realization that the the only person who knew what Branu was, was in fact his enemy.
"Oh... I see." Tila said.
"I doubt he would want to talk to me after our little encounter on Nar Shadda."
"It would seem that way, but its still worth a try." Tila encouraged. "Who knows? Maybe he'll talk."
At the Dreshdae hanger bay.
Darth Branu had left the cantina with the Twi'lek, Tila. He was about to set off for Coruscant in hopes of finding Kouta. He was beginning to think his hopes might be a little to high. Kouta had said "diclonius" and there was no record of such a race. Maybe e he knew but Branu couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.
Branu hit the switch for his ship, "The Black Tide" and the side doors slid open. He stepped towards the entrance.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Tila asked. "I'm off duty for the week so it should be fine."
Branu turned and looked at her, his face impassive.
"If you want to." He said. "It'll probably bore you."
"Don't worry." Tila said as she walked past him, letting her fingers drag across his chest as she passed. "I don't bore easily."
Branu and Tila stepped inside the Tide and closed the doors. Branu fired up the engines, opened the Dreshdae hanger bay doors and flew into space. He hit the coordinates for Coruscant and entered hyperspace.
The Ebon Hawk
Kouta was walking towards the port dormitory of the ship, which was still in hyperspace. One of the many upgrades to the ship was the expanded crew capacity. It used to be able to house only six crew members but now it could house twelve. It also came with showers and toilets at both port and starboard dorms. The showers could accommodate multiple people at once.
Kouta was bringing Tasriq some basic clothes to wear since his politician's outfit was ruined. It was a basic white t-shirt and black pants. Kouta himself had changed out of his own armor and into more comfortable clothing. A typical set of boots, black combat pants and a tee, along with his belt with his blaster pistol holstered and his lightsaber concealed by a brown jacket.
"Sir are you alright?" Kouta asked as he sat next to Tasriq, who was sitting on a bunk.
"Huh? Oh... I'm fine." Tasriq answered. "Just a little rattled."
"You and me both. That fight was tougher than I thought." Kouta said. "Who do you think that guy was?"
"Not a clue. But let's hope he doesn't come across us again."
"I agree. His lightsaber skill matched my own." Kouta said. "Anyway, I brought you some clothes." He looked down at Tasriq's tattered senator uniform. "Those look totaled and it wouldn't be wise to approach the senate in a ruined uniform."
"Thanks. I could use a fresh set of clothes after being stuck in rags for a week." Tasriq said.
"The shower's open to use as well." Kouta said.
"I'll take that as a hint." Tasriq said with a smirk.
"Yeah, you smell like shit." Kouta joked.
Tasriq changed headed to the showers and changed out of his clothes while Kouta headed back to the cockpit. He sat down in the left seat of the cockpit and kicked his feet up onto a panel with no buttons or switches. He folded his arms and smiled. Arruna wasn't there since she was tuning up the droids.
He could imagine it now.
He would wake up and see Lucy's beautiful face next to him. They would kiss and start the day ahead of them. He would see Kanae beaming in awe at the beauty of space travel. He could imagine his parents being so proud of his accomplishments over the years, Mayu socializing with Nana again. Yuka flirting with him more. He could finally meet this 'Papa' Nana kept speaking about.
"By the Force, I hope it works." Kouta thought.
Another thought entered his mind. He remembered how Bando said that they would grow old and die again. How would they handle themselves in the unfamiliar galaxy? He didn't worry about Lucy aging since her blood as a queen diclonius gave her agelessness past twenty-five. He couldn't think about it now. One more thing entered his mind. Lucy was the one who killed Kanae and Hayame. Would they remember her at all? It would put such a strain on the relationship between Lucy, Kanae and Hayame. Kanae would probably be scared out of her mind if she would remember her. Hayame... God knows what he would do. He used to be in the Japanese military. Not to mention his mother, Mai. He wouldn't worry as much now since he had solved worse problems than that. Kouta forgave Lucy so he was sure they would too.
After a few hours, the ship exited hyperspace and into the Coruscant system. Arruna was still handling the droids so he just began to pilot the Hawk himself. He steered it into the planet's atmosphere and below the building's rooftops. He piloted the ship manually past the various speeders and other starships. He was close by their own docking bay which was nearby the Galactic senate and the Jedi council. He spotted a landing pad large enough for him to dock The Hawk. He slowly descended and lowered the landing gear. The ship touched down, alerting the rest of the group that they had landed. Kouta turned off the engines and the coolant system activated, making the same hissing noise as always. He had landed on a building side balcony pad that was high in the air.
Kouta gathered Bando, Tasriq, and Arruna and brought them to the hanger bay of the Hawk. Within it was the same speeder that he and Bando used on Tatooine. It was a yellow, four-man speeder with a retractable roof. It was pretty fast and they used it a lot.
"So where to first?" Bando asked. "The cryo graves or the senate?"
Kouta sat in the driver's seat and activated the speeder along with the rest of the group taking a seat.
"Senate first." Kouta immediately answered. "I don't want anything hanging over our heads while we do this."
"Makes sense I guess."
The group drove the speeder out of the hawk and closed its hanger bay door behind them, activating the security systems. Kouta drove the speeder off of the side of the balcony since it could fly as well. Kouta allowed himself to relax despite the possibility of his family's return. He rested his arm on the seat and Bando just brought his leg up, resting his knee on the dash. Arruna was looking out the side, resting her head on her hand, just watching the large skyscrapers pass by and allowing her head tails to flow in the wind. Tasriq was leaning his head back. Silence fell over them for a short while.
"So why did they want you, Tasriq?" Arruna asked.
"It must've been because ten years ago, I was part of an elite strike team that had broken into a Sith compound. In the process, I had accidentally allowed Sith schematics to be encoded into my DNA." Tasriq said.
"What were they for?" The blue Twi'lek wondered.
"The creation of artificial midi-chlorians."
"Damn, that's heavy stuff." Bando spoke up.
"I kept it secret all these years because I felt it would cause the creation of super soldiers in the republic. Ones who wielded the Force without training." Tasriq said. "Leave the Force for the Jedi. I don't regret it one bit.
"I wouldn't either." Bando said. "After all we've seen over the years, it's better that way."
They kept chatting on for a good time until they reached the building for the galactic senate. Kouta landed the speeder in a lot next to the building so they could make a quick return to the speeder and make their way to the cryo graves. He shut off the speeder and activated the security locks for it. The group exited it and made their way into the building. The senate building was large and highly advanced in its design, even for it's time.
When inside they walked to the offices of the senators. Tasriq was going to wear a spare uniform he always kept in case of loss of his others. Kouta, Bando, and Arruna gave him time to change. When Tasriq stepped out of his office. He looked a bit better than before, but he still had some bruises and cuts.
"How do I look?" Tasriq asked.
"Fine enough, just take care of those cuts soon. You don't wanna scar anytime soon." Kouta said.
"Don't worry, I'll drop by a doctor after I meet up with the senate." Tasriq said. "I'm sure my wife will be happy to see me."
"So, is this where we part ways?" Kouta asked.
"I'm afraid so." Tasriq answered. "I'm sure your commanding officers are going to want a full report of what went on."
"Definitely. When the Sith get involved they always want to know." Bando said.
"I'll see you around. Take care." Tasriq said as he turned toward the meeting room.
Kouta, Bando and Arruna bade farewell to the senator as they watched him leave. Eventually he turned the corner to the meeting room and was out of sight. The trio began making their way to the exit of the Galactic senate building. The were walking towards the speeder and were about to get in when they were stopped by a familiar face. It was a man who looked to be in his forties. He had a strong jawline a stubble, Blue eyes, black hair combed in a crew cut with patches of grey at the temples. He was well-built and he was wearing a republic officer's uniform.
"Commander Vaak?" Kouta said. "We were about to head over to HQ to find you, sir."
"When I heard you landed, I figured you'd come here first, so I decided to meet you here." Vaak said. "Might save you the trouble. So how'd it go?"
"While we did succeed, we encountered heavy resistance, they really wanted Tasriq." Kouta said.
"I see..." The commander said. "Anything else?"
"One more thing, we encountered a dark Jedi there who was there to retrieve him or rather... Kill him."
"And obviously you kept that from happening."
"Yes sir." Kouta said respectfully. "Tasriq said that he had a formula encoded into his brain on the development of artificial midi-chlorians."
"I remember that mission." Vaak said. "I led the team that hit hat base. Did he tell you why we all agreed to say the formula was destroyed?"
"Yes sir he did."
"The Force isn't something to be manufactured and wielded by incapable hands."
Bando and Kouta both exchanged glances. The Force was a dangerous thing. The Republic had been known to try stupid things, despite the noble goals and deeds they did.
Vaak moved closer to Kouta, Arruna and Bando , who were leaning against the speeder.
"Don't tell anyone about this. Okay?" He said. "I'll handle the rest."
Kouta looked at the speeder and back at Vaak. He was hoping there weren't any more assignments for him to do. He really wanted to just get to the cryo graves as soon as physically possible.
"So you have anything else for us?" He said. "With all due respect, we have personal business to attend to."
"You're dismissed, go on." Vaak said with a smile. "Take a couple weeks off. I'll have a large sum of credits put into your account as payment. So relax for a bit and enjoy yourselves."
"Thanks commander." Bando said with relief.
"Hey, you boys have been doing a lot these past few weeks. You deserve a break."
Kouta, Bando and Arruna stepped into the speeder and closed the doors as they sat down. They thanked commander Vaak one last time. Kouta started it up again and they were off. The were speeding right past all of the skyscrapers and the other speeders in a hurried fashion.
Bando looked on his wrist device to see that their Republic banking account had a large deposit of 10,000 credits. Bando's mouth was practically watering.
"Damn, they really wanted this guy returned safely."
"How much did we get?" Arruna asked as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on Bando and Kouta's seats.
"10,000 Republic credits." Bando said
"WHOA!" Arruna shouted. "You're joking, right?"
"What reason would I have to joke about this?"
Arruna sat back down in her seat.
"Good point."
"Tasriq is a politician." Kouta said as he veered left into an oncoming building tunnel. "The Republic almost always pays well for the safe return of them."
"Let's hope we get more 'Political situations' of this nature'." Arruna said.
They began to fly for another while longer in silence until Arruna spoke up again.
"Soooo... These people were reviving." She said. "What're they like?"
"They're great." Kouta answered happily. "I have to forewarn you, our home planet was a human planet (and a few diclonius). So don't be offended if they're taken aback by you being a Twi'lek."
"I won't, but thanks for the heads-up." Arruna said.
They flew some more in silence until they saw a large, tall building. It was the medical facility that also shared with the cryo-graves. Kouta had their graves shipped off-planet when Earth was evacuated. He had them shipped to various planets but he decided their final resting place would be in the care of Coruscant workers.
They parked the speeder in a lot that was right outside of the building. It had a few other speeders as well. They stepped out of the speeder, locked it and they were on their way inside of the facility.
After navigating the halls of the facility and the individual cryo grave chambers, he found the one that housed Lucy, Yuka, Nana, Mayu, Mai, Hugh, Kanae, and Kurama. He made sure no one else except for them was around.
"Guard the door. Make sure no one else gets in while I do this." Kouta said.
Kouta called for the individual pods that kept the lifeless bodies of those he held dear. He watched as they separated from the crowds of other pods and lowered down in front of him. Kouta arranged them into a group so he could try to focus his energy into reviving them all at once. Kouta opened each pod and saw their faces. These pods were engineered to keep the bodies from decaying, so they all looked like they did when they died. Kanae's upper and lower half were reattached together and the same for Hugh's head. Kurama hadn't been blown apart because Mariko had attempted to use her vectors to push him away in order for him to survive the detonation of the bombs inside of her body, but her efforts were in vain. Kurama had taken to much shrapnel and force for him to survive. Mai had died in a car accident two years before Kanae and Hayame died. As for the rest,
Well... You know that story.
Kouta focused his Force heal into a single wave of energy which arced over their individual bodies. So much pressure and tension was being put on his body but he pushed through. He had taken worse than this, but he was starting to lose focus.
Soon Kouta wasn't able to take more.
He felt lightheaded and released the hold on his force arc. He coughed up some blood and fell to the ground.
The last thing he knew was Bando and Arruna calling his name out and pink hair rising from the pod in front of him.
A/N: OOOOOOHHHHH BOY! What's gonna happen now? I sure hope you guys are enjoying this. I know its shorter than most but I wanted to end it at this specific spot. Review with constructive criticism.
