Chapter Four: Possession
Korriban
"I'm not going back into that tomb!" Vette declared, her footsteps coming to a stop behind Shen as they walked down the dry, dusty valley on Korriban toward the crypts of the ancient Sith Lords.
"Yes you are," Shen replied calmly, not breaking her stride.
After a few more steps she heard an electrical crack behind her. "Poodoo! That hurts!" the crimson-skinned Twi'lek slave girl complained, jogging a few steps to catch up with Shen, who looked over her shoulder with an amused grin that seemed to incense Vette further. She started swearing at Shen in Huttese. The Sith acolyte ignored it and kept walking, Vette following reluctantly behind.
Shen had seen enough of Vette's smart mouth within minutes of meeting her to understand that arguing with the alien girl was pointless, so she didn't bother. She'd simply set the slave collar grafted to Vette's neck to shock her if she got too far away from the controller and started walking. At the Academy's entrance, when Shen informed her new slave that she would be guiding her master through the Tomb of Naga Sadow, the Twi'lek thief had managed to endure three increasingly powerful shocks before sprinting after Shen. Since then she'd only forgotten a few times that she was on a tight leash.
"Listen, that place is full of traps, crazy Sith, attack droids and feral predators. I almost died in there."
"None of that concerns me, slave," Shen replied. "I need to retrieve a lightsaber from the tomb, and the only reason you're still alive is because you can help me. I can take care of the failed acolytes, the droids and the animals, and you're here to make sure we find the hidden switches and enter the cavern that holds the prize. Now stop whining. You sound like a child."
"At least give me my blasters," Vette said sullenly. The Twi'lek girl was unarmed, and Shen had taken possession of the pair of small, powerful blaster pistols that the thief had been captured with.
"You'll get them back when I trust you to hold them, slave. For now I'll keep us safe. Think of this as… encouragement to keep your wits about you."
"Great," Vette muttered, but offered no further complaint as they made their way down into the tomb entrance.
Childish and impertinent she may be, but this little alien is good at her job,Shen admitted to herself hours later. Vette had successfully disarmed or avoided every trap Naga Sadow's architects had built to safeguard his tomb, and she'd managed to stay out of the way and unharmed while Shen cut down the looters, failed apprentices and vicious wildlife that infested the more trafficked areas of the tomb. They'd found and triggered all four hidden switches scattered around the tomb, and now they ventured deep into its recesses, where the dust lay thick on the ground, and few tread.
The dark side was strong all over Korriban, but here in the tomb of the legendary Sith it was palpable, filling Shen with strength and confidence.
Vette stepped into a massive chamber with a ceiling soaring high overhead. "This is it. The entrance to the secret cavern is here. Just… let me get my bearings," Vette said, glancing around at the crumbled statues and pillars around them.
The scuff of a boot on stone behind her gave Shen all the warning she needed to launch a spinning kick that caught Vemrin – a rival acolyte who had been sending his lackeys to try and kill Shen since she arrived – square in the face and sent him sprawling to the stones. He rolled back to his feet in a flash, his own vibroblade up in a guard as he squared off against Shen. "Take your time, slave. Just have the entrance uncovered by the time I finish killing your new master."
"I didn't think you had the stones to face me yourself, Vemrin. Have run out of minions to send to their deaths? I think the other acolytes are learning that you're not the one they need to fear." Shen twirled her blade in an effortless loop. "The ones I haven't killed, anyways." Without taking her eyes off of Vemrin, Shen barked, "Find the door, slave. Killing this dog won't take long."
Vemrin charged forward, and Shen met his blow with a smooth parry, sparks flying as their vibroswords met. "My passions run deeper than yours," he roared. "I am the true essence of what it means to be Sith!"
Shen laughed, launching a riposte the scored Vemrin's armor. "Poor, foolish, soft boy. You don't know anything. About me, or about what it means to be Sith."
"After today you will be forgotten," Vemrin grated through clenched teeth. "This ends here and now!" Stepping back, he directed a powerful Force blow at Shen, who shoved it away with her own will and fired back, slamming the other acolyte back into a crumbled pillar. He barely recovered in time to roll away from Shen's leap and downward slash that sheared off his shoulder armor.
"You can't win, Vemrin. I'm stronger than you are," Shen taunted him as they struck at each other in a flurry of blows. Despite her words, Shen knew it would be a difficult battle. Vemrin was good with the sword, better than Drake had been, and while Shen could sense that she was stronger in the Force, Vemrin was no slouch. Even when she managed to get a Force grip on his neck and lift him off of his feet, he managed to free himself before she could crush his throat.
They dueled back and forth between crumbling pillars and statues, trading blows and parries, scoring each other's armor. Soon both were bleeding from minor cuts. Vemrin started circling around her, driving her backward with heavy blows, and Shen realized he was driving her back toward a pile of loose stones. Guessing Vemrin's plan, she held her ground before she could trip over them, and was ready when she felt him reach out with the Force and pull on several of the larger stones with the intent of driving them into her back. Flashing a grin at the last moment, Shen leapt straight up, and added the momentum of her own telekinesis to the stones. They slammed into Vemrin with incredible force, throwing him into the far wall with bone-shattering force. He fell limply to the ground with a groan of pain. Shen leapt over to him and separated his head from his shoulders with a single stroke. "You lose, Vemrin," she whispered.
"Nice work," Vette commented from the corner of the room, her head popping up from behind a boulder.
"The outcome was never in doubt," Shen replied, cleaning the blood from her vibroblade on Vemrin's robe before stalking over to the Twi'lek. "Have you found the door?"
Vette nodded. "This way." Shen followed Vette to a false door in the wall. "This is where your friends caught me. All we have to do is get this open." The door had been closed for centuries, and it stubbornly resisted their efforts at first. It took Shen and Vette's strength and a healthy Force shove to get it open. Cautiously, the pair made their way down the dark tunnel that was revealed. After a few minutes they stepped out into a large chamber and stared. "This is it," Vette murmured.
The tomb beyond was massive and ornate, but Shen only had eyes for the sarcophagus at the top of the stairs. She let Vette go first, though there were no traps to be found in this room. When Shen reached the dais on which the sarcophagus rested, though, she felt a stirring in the Force. Wary, Shen drew her vibrosword, holding it at the ready. A nimbus of light surrounded the sarcophagus, and from it a pale, humanoid figure rose to face Shen. The apparition was garbed in the manner of an ancient Sith, masked and hooded. The power of the dark side emanated from it with startling intensity. Vette gasped, and Shen spared a glance at the Twi'lek, whose face had paled from crimson to pink. "I assume you can see that too," Shen said.
"What is it?" Vette asked.
"What's left of a dead Sith," Shen answered.
"I AM LORD TRACIC, FIRST OF NAGA SADOW'S ELITE WARRIORS," the spirit's hollow voice boomed, its words crawling into Shen's mind both through her ears and the Force. Vette clapped her hands over her ears with a wince. "WHO DARES DISTURB MY REST?"
"My Lord, forgive my intrusion," Shen said cautiously. "I have come seeking a lightsaber hidden in this tomb, that it may serve the Sith once more."
"YOU WOULD DARE TO STEAL MY LIGHTSABER?" the shade rumbled ominously, the dark side energies of the tomb stirring.
"I would honor it, my Lord," Shen replied quickly. "I would carry its blade to taste the blood of the Empire's enemies once more, and bring honor to your name in this age."
"YOU ARE ARROGANT, PUP," Tracic's ghost snarled. "BUT THE FORCE IS STRONG IN YOU. WHAT WILL YOU OFFER ME IN EXCHANGE FOR MY LIGHTSABER?"
"I would not presume to know your desires, my Lord. What would you have of me?" Shen asked.
The shade laughed, a horrid noise. "CLEVER, PUP. WHEN I WAS INTERRED, MY SLAVES WERE BURIED HERE WITH ME," The shade swept his hand back toward the wall of the tomb behind the sarcophagus, where skeletons both human and alien lay, many with their arms still encircled by the chains of dark metal affixed to the walls. "THEIR LINGERING AGONIES FED ME. I WOULD FEED AGAIN." The ghost's eyeless gaze turned toward Vette.
"What? No way!" Vette exclaimed, backing away from the sarcophagus.
Shen felt her gut lurch. Will I never see an end to Sith demanding I do terrible things at their whim? Evaluating the situation though, Shen didn't see an appealing alternative. Lord Tracic was dead, but she could feel his power, heavy in the air. Sith shades were strongest close to their mortal remains, and she had seen the charred corpse of more than one acolyte who had met their end seeking treasures defended only by the angry dead. When Shen turned to Vette, the slave girl saw the decision in her eyes. She turned and ran.
Shen let Vette get halfway down the stairs and then used the Force to yank her feet out from under her. Vette fell down the rest of the stairs with bruising force, and rolled to a stop at the base, groaning as she got her arms under her and started to rise. Letting the Force boost her jump, Shen leapt down to the base of the stairs, landing behind Vette and wrapping her arm around the girl's neck, squeezing. Vette struggled against her, but Shen was stronger and better armored. Vette's struggles weakened, and then she passed out, going limp. Shen held on for another heartbeat, and when she was satisfied the Twi'lek wasn't faking it, let go. With a sigh she picked up the girl's unconscious form in her arms.
Shen carried Vette back up the stairs, where the Sith shade watched, rubbing its phantasmal hands together. "THIS SLAVE IS SPIRITED. I WILL ENJOY HER DEATH." Shen didn't respond. At a wave of Tracic's hand, one set of manacles clicked open. Shen swept the bones away and then lifted Vette's wrists up, closing the restraints around them. Finished, she turned to Tracic. "YOU WILL HAVE YOUR PRIZE, ACOLYTE." The spirit stepped back from the sarcophagus, and the heavy stone lid grated back. "TAKE MY BLADE, AND LET YOUR ENEMIES KNOW ITS MIGHT." Shen reached down into the sarcophagus. Amid the bones and dust, her hand closed around a metal hilt, and she drew it free. The lightsaber was of ancient design, sturdy and simple. This was the weapon of one who often used it, not a show piece to impress. Shen thumbed the activation plate and the crimson blade sprang to life, its functionality after countless centuries of dormancy testament to its craftsmanship.
"You honor me, my Lord," Shen said bowing to the shade. Tracic nodded. The sarcophagus lid slid shut and the apparition faded, though Shen could still sense its presence, thick in the air. Glancing back at Vette, Shen felt a pang of regret. She turned off the collar's proximity trigger. She could spare Vette that discomfort at least. The slave had served well getting her here. It wasn't a fair reward. With a sigh, she turned and left.
Darth Baras was pleased by Shen's successful return, and named her his apprentice on the spot. After congratulating her he had departed for Dromund Kaas, instructing Shen to follow the next day. After celebrating into the night, Shen retired to her quarters. Though tired from the day's efforts and aching from her fight with Vemrin, sleep eluded her
Staring at the ceiling, Shen could only think of Vette, and what she had done to the unfortunate slave. With time for reflection, Shen felt guilt, and seethed with a hatred that sprang at a multitude of targets. Lord Syan. Lord Tracic. Herself.
Vette was a slave and a thief, but did she deserve her fate? Intellectually, Shen knew that the Twi'lek would have faced harsh punishment or execution for her attempted theft of Sith artifacts had she not possessed useful knowledge, but a quick blaster bolt was a far kinder fate than starving to death in a cold tomb, alone with the ghost of a Sith Lord. It was an odd question on the face of it. Shen had cut down slaves, rebels and fellow acolytes by the dozen since arriving on Korriban, never considering who deserved death. The children on Tyrin III hadn't deserved… her mind shied away from that fresh psychic wound. Life was cheap in the Empire. No one had asked why she returned alone, not even the overseer who had turned Vette over to her. They just assumed the Twi'lek was dead, and none of them cared how or why. Vette didn't matter to anyone whose opinion was important to Shen, so why should the slave be important to her?
Giving up on sleep, Shen put her armor back on, cleaned and mended by the Academy servants during the evening's festivities. Hooking her new lightsaber on her belt, Shen left her quarters and ventured out onto the high balconies of the Academy. By day Korriban was stained red by the sun and rock, but in the night the harsh lines of the valley were shaded in blacks and grays. A cool wind washed over Shen as she tried to understand what troubled her. It wasn't as though her choice was one that anyone would condemn. Baras or any of the overseers would likely praise her for placating the ghost so easily.
The Sith Code was clear. The weak existed only to serve the strong. If that meant being sacrificed for the advancement of their betters, so be it. No one at the Academy cared that Shen had abandoned a slave to die a cold, lonely and painful death in an ancient tomb, and they would have ridiculed her had she chosen to fight the shade.
That was the core of it, Shen realized. Against Syan she would have had no chance of victory had she fought him. The choice then was suicide or survival. But had she faced the same choice today? Was Tracic's shade truly unbeatable? Unhooking her new lightsaber from her belt, she rolled it across her palm, thinking.
"You will make a magnificent Sith." Syan's last words to Shen echoed in her mind, and her hands clenched into fists.
"Not if I give in to fear." Shen whispered to herself. That was the answer. She hadn't given up Vette because she knew Tracic was stronger; she'd done it because she was afraid hemight be. "I'm not a scared little schoolteacher anymore, and it's time I stopped acting like one," Shen told the wind. Coming to a decision, she leapt over the parapet, slowing her fall to the ground with the Force.
Shen made her way down the valley and back into Naga Sadow's tomb. She avoided or killed the few opponents she encountered, though many shied away from the crimson glow of her weapon rather than fight. She retraced her steps back to the hidden chamber. The tomb's scavengers had picked the bones of her onetime rival clean, and Shen smiled at the pleasant thought of vermin feasting on Vemrin. This time she was able to open the hidden door with the Force alone. The lightsaber, attuned to the dark side, was making her stronger. But was she strong enough for what she was planning? "One way to find out," Shen murmured. Bracing herself, she unhooked the lightsaber from her belt and entered the chamber. She could feel Tracic's presence stirring, but his attention was directed elsewhere; at Vette, whose mind was a beacon of terror. When Shen ascended the stairs and stepped onto the dais, she could sense Tracic's presence laying heavy over Vette's mind; the Twi'lek girl's eyes were open, but they stared into space, empty. Tears ran down her cheeks, and her face was contorted into a visage of despair. "Tiva… Mom… No!"
Shen's eyes narrowed in disgust. Tracic wasn't content to simply feed off of Vette's pain as she starved, he was already attacking her mind with nightmares to feast on her terror. Wasting no time, Shen struck the first blow. Drawing heavily on the room's powerful Force aura, she lifted the heaviest boulder she could find and hurled it into Tracic's sarcophagus. Before it hit, there was a massive surge of dark side power, and it was deflected away, slamming into a wall. Vette slumped against the wall, her eyes sliding shut, as the aura of Tracic's power vanished from around her.
The air in the room got colder, and the Force roiled as the shade of Lord Tracic manifested once again. "YOU DARE?" it thundered.
Shen ignited the lightsaber and stood firm before the ghost. "I changed my mind. I'd like my slave back."
The spirit screamed incoherently, and the air stirred, then began to swirl around the dais. "YOU WILL SUFFER AN ETERNITY FOR THIS INSULT!"
"I don't think you have the power to back that up. Care to prove me wrong?" The first thing Lord Tracic's ghost tried to do was yank the lightsaber from Shen's grasp. She held tight to it with both hands. "Is that all you've got?" Shen taunted the dead Lord. Tracic's hands came up, and the shade blasted her with Force lightning. Shen brought the lightsaber up, catching the deadly attack on the crimson blade. Tracic fired off another gout of lightning that she deflected. "Any more tricks?"
A tickle of warning with the Force made Shen duck as a fist-sized stone flew through the space her head had just occupied. Shen could hear stone grating on stone all around her, and watched as numerous bits of rock floated up into the air on the current of Tracic's will. "I WILL CRUSH YOU!" the shade howled, and the stones swirled around the dais, one after another flying in to strike Shen at unpredictable angles.
"Oh hell," Shen said to herself, throwing herself into the fight, dodging some stones, deflecting others with her own power, and batting smaller ones apart into a cloud of dust with the lightsaber. The spirit interspersed more forks of purple electricity with its hurled stones, and Shen had to be careful to keep the lightsaber between herself and Tracic. One hit from that lightning and she would be helpless.
The spirit was drawing on the dark side power of the tomb, but Shen was pulling that same power into herself. As the bizarre duel continued, the oppressive quality of the air began to lessen. Shen was getting tired, but she noticed that fewer stones were coming her way, and it was taking the spirit longer to summon the energy to hurl lightning at her. Its ethereal glow even seemed to be fading slightly.
"Are you getting tired, shade?" Shen taunted. "I thought Naga Sadow's elite would put up more of a fight.
"ARROGANT WHELP!" Tracic redoubled his attacks, but Shen found her center in the Force and deflected each attack until eventually they stopped. Tracic's ghost was little more than an outline. "YOU SHALL NOT HAVE YOUR PRIZE!" it rumbled, then lifted a hand. The boulder Shen had attacked the sarcophagus with rose into the air – and flew toward Vette's comatose form.
Feeding her rage at the cowardly, cruel ghost into the Force, Shen reached out and grabbed the boulder with her own power, stopping it less than a meter from Vette. The massive stone trembled in the air as two wills contested over it, neither dark sider willing to give in. Then gradually, bit by bit, the rock began sliding back, away from Vette, as Shen won control of it. With one last exertion of her will, Shen tore the boulder from Tracic's grasp, and sent it hurtling back toward the sarcophagus.
"NO!" the shade roared, but this time it lacked the strength to stop the boulder's path. It slammed into the sarcophagus with all the power of Shen's fury, shattering the burial chamber and crushing the brittle remains within to dust. The spirit howled wordlessly, its incorporeal form wavering.
"Fade into oblivion, shade," Shen said. With an explosion of dark side energy that ripped through the air and sent up clouds of dust into the air, Tracic's form collapsed, dissipating into nothing. As the adrenaline wore off, Shen realized how tired, sore and drained the fight had left her. Extinguishing her lightsaber, she picked her way through the rubble to where Vette lay. The Twi'lek was physically unharmed other than the bruises she had endured from her scuffle with Shen. Hoping the old Sith ghost hadn't damaged her mind, Shen struck Vette hard across the cheek. "Wake up, slave."
Vette woke with a start, screaming in terror. "Aah!"
Shen gripped Vette's chin, making the wide-eyed girl look at her. "Calm down. It's over."
Vette came to her senses, and then scowled, eyes going hard as she wiped the tears from her face. "You! You left me here with that… that thing!" Shen dodged an awkward kick from the chained slave.
"I came back, didn't I? The ghost is gone now. His power is broken." Shen gestured to the crushed sarcophagus.
"It… it's gone?" Vette said in disbelief. She looked back at Shen, confused. "Why did you come back? You got what you wanted, didn't you?"
Shen hesitated, looking away from the slave's piercing gaze. She couldn't admit her fear, of course. "I couldn't have beaten him when we first arrived. I needed his lightsaber. A vibroblade can't deflect force lightning." She pointed to the black scorch marks all over the room. It wasn't the whole truth, but it would do.
"So what now? Are you going to get me out of here?" Vette asked, hopefully, glancing up at the chains that encircled her wrists. The chains had no visible means of opening, but Tracic had given her the clue. Concentrating on the manacles, Shen sensed a switch hidden inside the metal, one that only a Force user could trip. With a thought the manacles clicked open. Vette rubbed her wrists, the skin raw from earlier struggles.
Shen regarded the slave thoughtfully. She had faced Tracic, faced her fear. Now that it was over, what was she to do with the young Twi'lek thief? "You have been… useful to me. I'm travelling to Dromund Kaas in the morning, and I could use a personal slave. If you wish, I will claim you as my own. The overseers will not deny Darth Baras' apprentice" The look of distaste on Vette's face showed what she thought of that idea. "The alternative is that I hand you back to the overseers. For attempting to steal Sith artifacts you'll be sentenced to a few decades of hard labor excavating tombs. That is if they don't simply execute you."
Vette swallowed hard and then forced a weak smile. "In that case I'd be happy to serve you… master."
Shen helped Vette to her feet. "Good. Then you're going to need these," Shen said, handing the Twi'lek her blaster belt, twin pistols in the holster. Shen watched as Vette buckled the belt on. "We need to get moving. That shuttle won't wait for us, and it's a long walk back to the Academy." Shen headed down the stairs, listening for the sound of a blaster clearing leather. If Vette was going to turn on her, this would be the time to do it, armed and with no witnesses. It didn't happen though; the Twi'lek girl followed her out of the tomb.
As they walked up the valley toward the Academy, the sky was beginning to brighten, heralding the dawn. "I don't suppose you'd consider taking this collar off?" Vette asked hopefully. Without breaking stride Shen triggered the device. "Oww!" Vette exclaimed. "You could have just said 'no'. That really hurts…"
"It will come off when I trust you, slave," Shen said over her shoulder.
"Can I trust you?" Vette asked, turning serious in an instant.
Shen considered that for a moment. "You can trust that I am Sith. You belong to me, now, and I don't easily surrender what's mine."
If Vette was comforted by that answer, she didn't respond as they made their way to the shuttle pad.