Acquiescence: Chapter 4

The Eternal Crusader, which Ben learned from Vestara was the name of the ship they were all on, finally came out of its final hyperspace jump and ended up several lightyears away from the planet of Nam Chorios. Ben and Vestara were in the Crusader's docking bay just in time and they boarded Ship. Not long after, Ship left the larger vessel behind and headed straight for Nam Chorios.

While Ship traveled to Nam Chorios, Vestara, kneeling beside Ben, took out one of two lightsabers hanging from her belt and handed it to Ben. The latter ignited the lightsaber to find the familiar red of the Sith blade's glare staring back at him.

He shifted his gaze back to Vestara. "I told you," he said as he deactivated the lightsaber and attempted to give it back to Vestara, "I won't use a Sith weapon."

"Well, you're going to need it," Vestara said, pushing Ben's lightsaber-carrying hand away from her, "for now. At least until you can get a lightsaber of the Jedi. Somehow."

"Yeah. Right," Ben replied. Despite his reluctance, he hooked the lightsaber to his own belt and turned back to Ship's viewport as they approached Nam Chorios. "Where did you get it from though?"

"The Eternal Crusader's cargo hold has several spare lightsabers," Vestara briefly explained, "just in case."

"Oh," Ben replied. "Well, thanks then."

Vestara smirked. "Not a problem."

In orbit over the planet were several space stations, one of which hailed Ship to board that station. Ben decided to comply much to Vestara's reluctance and ordered Ship to do as the operator on the end of the comm demanded. Soon, Ben and Vestara were given a fair amount of warm clothing for Nam Chorios's freezing climate, a map of the world's various locations, and repellent for creatures called drochs, a species that burrow into other species' skins and kill them. Ben remembered from a history lesson of his father's that drochs were responsible for the Death Seed plague that occurred years before he was even born.

Unfortunately, Ben and Vestara couldn't bring Ship down with them on the planet; instead, they were forced to be shuttled down, as was Nam Chorios's protocol. Despite others' interests in Ship's unique design, security ensured Ben and Vestara that the Sith Mediation Sphere wouldn't be meddled with–Ben was okay with the management, though Vestara needed a little bit of convincing from her Jedi counterpart when it came to leaving Ship behind–for now.

Down on the surface, Ben and Vestara, now both warmly dressed in the clothes provided to protect them from the planet's elements, looked at the map, but they found that it didn't show them where the Theran Listeners were.

"I guess we should find them through the Force," Vestara said.

"We can't, remember?" Ben asked. "Lady Rhea said that if we use the Force, we can cause catastrophe on this planet. So let's not use the Force anymore than we really have to."

"So how do you suggest we find these Theran Listeners, Jedi?" Vestara asked dryly.

As Ben folded up the map and put it in a pocket on his belt, looking at Vestara with a measure of controlled contempt, he answered, "We ask around."

~o~

Back aboard the Eternal Crusader, Ahri Raas looked out through the viewport of his room, which was currently facing the direction of the barren world of Nam Chorios.

"Is there something on your mind, Tyro Raas?" Ahri heard a familiar and intimidating voice behind him. He turned to the voice's direction to face his human Master, Sith Saber Yuvar Xal, who had let himself in just a few minutes earlier. "Because I sense the dark side raging within you more than usual."

"I think you're aware of my feelings regarding this Jedi's affiliation with us, Master Xal," Ahri said. "And I'm also inclined to believe that you know that many others share my thoughts about him, as well."

"Indeed," Xal nodded. "You've made that quite clear within the mess hall earlier today." Xal's tone made it unknown for Ahri to determine whether or not his Master approved his action of spilling the contents of Skywalker's food near his feet. "Alas, there is nothing you can do now to this Jedi until the nature of this temporary alliance is over."

"I know, Master," Ahri said. He looked back to the viewport, which was sliding away from the view of Nam Chorios. "But I still don't trust him. I have this feeling that he has somehow gotten hold of Ship and is using him to trick us to our doom."

"Lady Rhea and Tyro Khai have communed with Ship on this matter, Tyro Raas," Xal reminded him, "and I have even had a brief discussion with Lady Rhea on it. She has told me that there is no corruption in Ship from this Jedi. But that's not what really worries you, isn't it?"

Ahri turned from the viewport and looked at Xal. "What do you mean, Master?"

Xal raised an eyebrow. "I am more than aware of your barely-kept feelings for Tyro Khai, my young apprentice. Doubtless do the other Sabers and Masters know about this, including the girl's father, who is very influential within the Circle of Lords."

"I don't know what you speak of, Master Xal," Ahri lied. Indeed he had felt feelings for Vestara for quite a few years now, after he hit puberty.

"While I do admit that treachery and deceit are valuable traits in a Sith, it is not wise to exercise such traits on one's superiors," Xal said, a note of menace in his voice. "Especially if your superior is a Sith Master of Saber, such as I."

Ahri had nothing to counter Xal's argument, lest he risk a rough beating, or if worse came to worse, death. So he sighed and said, "Yes, Master Xal, I do have feelings for Tyro Khai."

Satisfied to hear the truth from Ahri's lips, Xal smiled, his tone of menace lightened. "You would do well to feed those emotions to the dark side, Tyro Raas," Xal said. "They will do you good in the long run."

"Yes..." He said that as he once again turned back to the viewport to see the last of Nam Chorios's planetary disk drift away from the transparent screen. "They will..."

Xal approached Ahri from behind and gripped his shoulders. "In due time, Ahri. In due time, you will strike down that Jedi and claim Vestara as your own."

Then, all of a sudden, Ahri's presence in the Force disappeared.

"Tyro Raas?"

Ahri spun around quickly and blasted Xal across the room with the Force. As the Sith Saber landed on his haunches on the other side of Ahri's cabin, the Sith Tyro unsheathed his hand-carved blade while simultaneously springing across the room in one bound. At the end of that bound, he was kneeling before his downed Master, and without a second's hesitation, his blade slit Xal's throat.

Ahri quickly backed away from his Master's dying form as the latter began to crawl away to the exit of his apprentice's cabin. But Ahri stopped him by impaling his blade into the small of Xal's back. The Sith Saber tried to scream from the pain, but his cry of agony was quite literally drowned out by the gurgling of his blood pouring from his open jugular. And instead of pulling the knife out of Xal's body, Ahri ran the blade down his Master's back, and more blood poured out of Xal's neck in his attempt at screaming before the Sith Tyro abruptly pulled the blade out of Xal's pelvic area.

With that, Ahri took out a cloth from his belt pouch to wipe his blade clean of Xal's blood as the latter turned on his back, and with his last, blood-stained breath, he asked, "Why?" Then he was no more.

But even so, Ahri still felt he had an obligation to answer his Master's dying question after he inspected his now-clean blade and sheathed it.

"Because no one will stand in my way of killing that Jedi, Master, regardless of whether or not we need this alliance with him."

Through the Force, Yuvar Xal's death was felt by many aboard the Eternal Crusader, including the likes of Lady Olaris Rhea and several Sith Sabers. They rushed from their current posts to reach Ahri's room.

But by the time they arrived, all they found was Saber Xal's body, pooled in a vat of his own blood, and no sign of his murderer.