Once in lightspeed, I let myself fall back into my in the pilot chair and took a deep breath to calm myself down. I felt the adrenaline spiking in my blood causing a thrilling feeling surging through my body. Normally, this was the how I usually felt after an especially exhausting training, only less intensive.
I pulled back my hood and stripped out of my cloak, leaving it on the chair. Whew, finally, fresh air! It had been exhaustingly hot on that force forsaken dust ball! Ok, my dislike for Geonosians may or may not play into that opinion...
Beep, beep! A diode on the console in front of me started blinking and beeping, indicating the reception of a foreign message. It was a level one encryption, the highest one my ship currently supported. In some other cases, this might indicate the sender of it, but there were only two people that knew my com code and both of them were Sith: Tyrannus and Sidious.
It was text only, so I touched the screen to open it. It was short and succinct and only comprehensible to people that knew what it spoke of.
Meeting in 5 hours.
Only 4 words and yet I knew immediately what was meant. My master wanted me to come to our usual meeting place, probably to discuss what had happened today. Maybe he would finally introduce me to his full plans. Don't get me wrong, I was aware of the fact that he was the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic and thus a very influential figure, but apart from that he hadn't told me much.
The only logical conclusion that would explain the meeting would be to induct me in his plans or to ask me about today's attack on Geonosis. Maybe 'or' was the wrong word? Was that part of his plans as well? If one thing had become clear in the past, it was that Sidious was a mastermind, planning and plotting, hiding and scheming his best traits. Or worst, depending on the side you were on.
But I would be more clever in 5 standard hours, so spending time thinking about it wasn't my top priority now. Instead, a strange noise escaped from my belly. It was already past lunch and my body started reminding me of that. So the logical course of action was to go to the fridge, get a support ration and warm it up in the heater. And no, the support ration didn't taste well, hardly even acceptable but it had to suffice: Nutritious, warm and a good texture were its best traits.
With my meal ready, I switched on the HoloNet and started watching the latest news, as always presented by a gorgeous blonde moderator. I snorted, the only thing she represented to me was a puppet, controlled by those behind the cameras. In one of my lessons, my master had made me aware of that and I had found a truth in it: More often than not, the one's talking on television with important voices and serious faces usually weren't the one's in charge or with power, but rather manipulated by those who possessed both the traits they lacked.
"I have just received the news of an emergency broadcast live from Chancellor Palpatine's office..."
Ah, trust the media to be quick. A little too quick, but that might have been just my perception. Other's may think of it as just a immediate reaction from a competent and reliable leader.
I listened to the broadcast, but unsurprisingly, nothing new was mentioned. Nothing new, except a clone army that had been created for the Republic's cause out of nowhere. Clones... admittedly an ingenious idea, they could have been engineered to be superior to normal soldiers and trained for their whole life. That rose the question just how long they had been developed and planned to defend their creators. Well, I would definitely find out. I spent the rest of the time watching the news and quite a funny show where people switched planets for a week and had to life under the same circumstances as their partner. I didn't watch those shows often but I had to pass five hours and that seemed like the best way to do it. Meanwhile my nav-computer was in autopilot, flying to Coruscant on a predefined route that would take us out of hyperspace close to our destination a little before the meeting was to take place.
Actually, time passed quite quickly and before I noticed, the ship's computer beeped to indicate that the ship would arrive in a minute; so I went back to the cockpit, put on my robe that still lay in my seat and put it on. The fake identity seemed to work, but a double check wouldn't do any harm; definitely not as much as if someone would recognize the Scimitar as the ship it was. Now, I flew under the name "Nura Slanging" on the ship "Dagger", a simple worker who would take jobs here and there whenever the need for it arose.
As always, the identity worked flawlessly and after a few routine checks I descended into Coruscant's artificial atmosphere towards the old, deserted hangar. As the doors recognized my ship's signature, they opened automatically to let me in and closed afterwards. Double-checking I had everything on me, I walked out after letting down the ramp.
A dark figure stood half hidden by the shadows.
"Master" I sank to a knee and bowed my head, waiting for the signal to rise which he gave shortly afterwards. It took a little longer for him to do so, just a fraction, but it was clearly noticeable. The question was, why?
"Darth Imperia, we've got much to talk about." He started walking and I hurried to walk next to him. "How did the ... issue on Geonosis go?" he didn't waste any time beating around the bush and directly jumped to the point while looking ahead, the visible part of his face not giving away any emotions.
"I haven't seen much, but it seemed that the forces of the Techno union and the trade federation didn't fare too well" the picture of gunships obliterating various droids in the arena came to my mind.
"How did the Republic create such a large army without us noticing?" It was a calculated question, designed to make him reveal anything he knew about the attack. Sidious stopped and half turned his head towards his right, looking at me. His eyes narrowed for just a tiny bit as if he pondered about something. Then, without any warning, he thrust his hand forwards.
I felt like being hit with a solid rock and was flung backwards right at a wall. The force behind the push was so big that an impact would have broken my back if I hadn't used the force to lessen it. Still, it hurt and for a moment it drove me to my knees. I once breathed in and out, then stood up again.
"Master?" he just stood there, hands by his side and looked at me.
"It has become obvious..." his voice echoed inside the hangar "that you don't think of me as that anymore. Master..." he snorted. "No, don't you think your defiance, your wavering loyalty would remain unnoticed. Noooooo..."
Slowly, an uneasiness overcame me; he hadn't spoken to me like that in a long time. What did he mean with weakness? Unconsciously, my hand wandered to the second lightsaber dangling from the left of my hip.
"Yesssss, don't you think that I wouldn't notice the change in your fighting style... it clearly showed that you have been training with two sabers now. You dare walking next to me like an equal instead of an apprentice. Yes, I have to admit that you surpassed my expectations and now... it is time to see if you can surpass me!"
Suddenly, his hands were holding two lightsabers, their surface shining in the dim light. But if he'd taught me one thing during my apprentice hood which was now obviously over, it was that the Sith should survive. And I knew he had a hidden agenda.
"And what of your plan, what if it dies with you?" His smile seemed to widen.
"Don't worry, this is how it should be. There can only be two and in the unlikely event of your victory, you will continue the path of the Sith..."
With an inhumanly growl, he jumped at me and at the same time, I jumped back which gave me time to ignite my two lightsabers. Thank the force that I had brought both of them.
"You... dare use this color?!" His voice dropped with disgust as his gaze was drawn to my shoto. It was the unbroken tradition for a Sith to only use synthetic red crystals for our weapons.
"Traitor!" he lunged at me, lightsabers slicing through the air at an incredible speed. I blocked one strike that would have amputated both of my legs, then one aimed at my head. Barely. It seemed he had been holding back during our training. Using the same technique he had only seconds ago, my outstretched pushed him away; he dug the blade of his weapons in the ground and came to a halt a few meters away. It was a lesser distance than expected, but it gave me time to sink deeper into the force. Or so I thought.
Without even deactivating the sabers, Sidious stretched out both of his hands and sent lightning at me. Still concentrated on the force, I just managed to get up one of my hands in time, absorbing part of the lightning. The other part met its target.
An agonizing pain seared through the lift side of my face and I screamed. I dropped my lightsaber and now used both hands to protect myself for what could have been only seconds but felt like minutes. Finally, it stopped.
"You are weak." He threw the words at me like they were meant to hurt... and they did. More than I'd imagined. Tentatively, I touched the burned side of my face. My left eye was melted shut and I couldn't feel anything. Maybe all the nerves were burnt, but certainly adrenaline had its fair share in it as well.
But now was not the time to care about injuries. Calling my lightsaber back into my hand, I readied myself. Now hatred flowed through me, to get revenge for the lightning. Stop, I reminded myself. Use the whole force, not only a part of it. I centered myself, letting the force wash over me, bathing in both the light and the dark side. Hot was paired with cold, hatred with serenity and it felt... good.
Sidious may be a master of the dark, but he had made one crucial mistake. He was arrogant and wanted to revel in his victories. That was a fault that had saved my life in this moment, because he had missed his opportunity to end this fight before it even began. And he seemed to sense this, because a new wave of anger surged through the force as he attacked again.
But this time, I was ready. Well, it wasn't exactly me. The force flowed through me and guided my body, I just let the movements happen. That's what the force was: A guide, it didn't force the movements on someone and I could have resisted at any moment, but I didn't.
Attack, block, attack, block. Sidious slashed and thrust, his movements so fast that they were barely visible. And yet, I still stood here, alive and mostly unharmed. He slowly began getting exhausted, I knew this. His attacks were just fractions slower than usual. And still, I hadn't attacked.
Then, there was an opening when he hurled his blade down from the right. With the red lightsaber I blocked the strike and with the blue one I impaled him; his movements too slow to deflect the strike.
The lightsaber deactivated and dropped to the floor. Sidious stood there, an unbelieving look on his face; he knew it was over.
Suddenly, the force flashed with a warning and from the corner of my eye I saw something silver. It was the hilt of a lightsaber, having been hidden in his sleeve as a last resort. Pointing it at my belly, he activated it just as I moved to the side.
He almost missed. It graced my skin slightly, enough to leave a mark that was deep, but not lethal or handicapping. That was his final strike, the last deceit of his before he fell to the ground, his life vanishing; almost cut in half by my lightsaber which had still been buried in his chest when I moved.
