Travien followed Qui-Gon out to a balcony like structure, a surprise in slave quarters. He heard the communicator spout the voice of the padawan, Obi-Wan,
"The Queen is upset; her people are dying after all. I made sure they sent no transmission." Claimed Obi-Wan's voice,
Qui-Gon nodded, "Good, it sounds like an attempt to establish a trace."
"What if it is true, master, what if they are dying?"
Qui-Gon slumped, "Either way, we are running out of time." He shut down the communicator and Travien stepped forward,
"I never did that you know."
Qui-Gon jumped and looked at him, "Did what?"
"I never tortured people because I could. I never attacked an innocent person just to track down an individual. It lacked…honour."
The older man looked at him as Travien leaned on the sandstone wall, "Honour? What do the Sith know of honour?"
Travien smiled slightly, "Quite a bit, actually. Those of us who aren't completely consumed by the Dark Side have to hold on to something. Mum and Dad held on to each other. I only ever had my honour, I know I'm not a moral or ethical creature but I've never enslaved someone against their will. I've never bombed a planet of civilians into submission. I've occasionally bombarded planets, but they were mostly military installations."
Qui-Gon looked at him, "What of slaves? I doubt anyone would want to be enslaved."
He shrugged, "I was reticent about that at first. But pleasure slaves, not sex slaves mind you, these were masseuses and the like, they told me that they didn't have to worry about tomorrow and what it would bring. I made sure that they had food, clothing and comfort and all I asked in exchange was the occasional back rub. I suppose it would have all gone to my head if I'd had time."
Qui-Gon waited and let him talk,
"I could never attack someone weaker than me, you know? Maybe this is my uncle Canderous' influence, but attacking a world like Naboo, there's no point to it. The very basis of the Sith Code is three things. Firstly the Dark Side, that's obvious, secondly is superiority. If there's no challenge in attacking you're not proving anything. Victory at any cost is not acceptable; it means that it's false."
Qui-Gon leaned on the wall beside him, "I have not heard this point of view before. I never knew there was this side to the Sith."
Travien shrugged, "You probably won't again. When my parent's discovered the cause of my disability they nearly abandoned the Dark Side altogether. I was taught to control it, rather than let it control me. Few can, you know. I struggle at times. Padmé probably could, if she ever wanted to learn, not sure that I would want to teach her though."
The Jedi paused for a second, "What is the third part of the code?"
Travien chuckled, "That's the Jedi. You kill us, we kill you, you know. It's more of a grudge match between the Shan's and the Jedi Council though."
"How so?"
"It starts with the Mandalorian Wars, really. Council of the time abandoned the Republic; dad went to fight the Mandalorians who invaded."
"My master was sent to fight the Mandalorians."
Travien chuckled, "They always turn up, don't they? Anyway, the Order split in half. Some stayed, some went. By the time the war ended the council hadn't changed their minds, Dad saw it as the ultimate betrayal and wanted rid of the Order. He saw a problem."
The Jedi's brow furrowed, "What problem?"
"The Jedi and the Republic are symbiotic beings; one cannot last long without the other, not now. Dad left for two years and eventually came back with an army, going after the weaker of the two opponents to bring down the other."
Qui-Gon nodded, "He went after the Republic."
"Yep, I won't bore you with the details of the war, but it was brutal. About two or three years in Dad was captured, the Council erased his entire life. They disposed of any files in the Republic and Jedi databases, they wiped his memory, everything. Some stuff was put back later on after he vanished, but it was a complete wipe. After a year they gave him some basic training, let him think he was a padawan and sent him after Malak. When mum was captured they made an attempt to assassinate her, rather than try to free her, her battle meditation was all they wanted and the Sith couldn't be allowed to have it. They then made him kill his best friend, his brother in all but blood."
Travien sighed, "The next time a Sith Lord had anything to do with the Republic it was me. I was on Naboo, building a house so that I wouldn't have to sleep in the open while I set my affairs in order. I figured that any hope of doing anything was shot. The galaxy was hunting the Sith and the Empire was gone. I couldn't have settled down to start a family. One day, just finished the floorboards in the dining room and I'm confronted with five Jedi Weapons Masters. Sufficed to say, I won. That's it, the great conflict between the Jedi and Sith is because neither can remember who stole who's toy at the beginning."
Qui-Gon laughed, "I had never thought of it that way."
Travien smiled, "Well, I'm out of it now. I'll train Sith if they want me to. I'll build an army if I need to; given my successor's actions I think I might. But I can't attack the Republic. Padmé lives and breathes democracy, her entire life exists around the freedom of choice and I can't take that away from her. I know where my father's resources are and I could have used them at any time, I might do if I want a personal ship and I'm too damn tight to pay for it. Although I will admit, if anyone is going to rule the Republic it will be me and Padmé."
He looked at Qui-Gon's shocked face, "Tell your Council what I am. Tell them I'm no threat to you, unless they should see fit to antagonize me and then I don't show mercy to stupid Jedi. As for me, well, I'm seventeen years old and I'm tired of war. Now I think I'm gonna try and get tired of peace for a while." Travien walked off as Shmi called that dinner was ready. He left a pensive Jedi behind him,
Darth Maul stood beside his master, Darth Sidious looking over the Coruscant nightscape. He wondered what would happen to them,
"Eliminate the Jedi first, my young apprentice. Once they are dead, you will have no trouble returning the Queen to Naboo. Tatooine is lightly populated; you should have no trouble finding them." Intoned Sidious,
"Of course master." Maul hesitated for a moment, "What of this Darth Shan, my master?"
Sidious snorted, "The man is an imposter. Darth Shan vanished four millennia ago. Kill him along with the Jedi."
Maul nodded, "At last we shall reveal ourselves to the Jedi at last we shall have our revenge."
Sidious nodded, "You have been trained well Lord Maul. They are no match for you and the power of the Dark Side. They cannot avoid their fate. However you must be cautious. Darth Shan should be long dead; if he has survived the intervening millennia then he will be the most dangerous opponent you have ever encountered."
They group were all sitting down to dinner with Shmi and Anakin. Travien and Qui-Gon had both surreptitiously slipped their own food supplies into Shmi's stores before hand, each congratulating themselves on being so stealthy.
Shmi and Anakin were telling the group about slavery on Tatooine,
"They place a device inside a person's head." said Shmi,
Anakin nodded, "Any attempt to escape and they blow you up, BOOM!" he slapped the table to emphasize his point.
"How rude." Said Jar Jar.
Travien couldn't help but notice that Padmé looked heartbroken, "I can't believe there's still slavery in the galaxy. The Republic's anti-slavery laws…"
She was cut off by Shmi, "The Republic doesn't exist out here. We must fend for ourselves."
Travien nodded and then chuckled as Jar Jar snapped a piece of fruit from a bowl the other side of the table with his tongue. It seemed just the sort of unassuming action that was quintessentially Jar Jar. Everyone turned to stare at the Gungan, who ducked his head,
"Scuse me."
Anakin looked around nervously, "Has anyone ever seen a podrace?" Padmé and Jar Jar shake their heads, Travien nods, to the surprise of Padmé and Qui-Gon spoke up,
"I have, on malastare. Very fast, very dangerous."
Anakin looked at them, "I'm the only human who can do it."
They looked at Anakin in amazement as Travien spoke up, "Not quite." They wheeled round to look at him,
"I was always more taken with swoop racing, but I managed to finish a few podraces when I was a couple of years older than Anakin here. I was never really taken with it, but they weren't particularly well equipped. I'd like a chance at another if it were any good though."
Qui-Gon nodded, "Indeed. You must have Jedi reflexes, young Anakin."
Qui-Gon's arm snapped out and caught the Gungans tongue between his forefinger and thumb as Jar Jar tried to grab another fruit from the bowl. He looked at the struggling and startled Gungan. "Don't do that again."
As Jar Jar shook his tongue and Anakin looked at Qui-Gon in awe Travien decided to even things up,
"Reflexes aren't everything, you know." He used the Force to pickup a fruit from the bowl and bring it to himself, "There are always other ways."
Padmé smiled at the sight of two grown men fighting over the boy's attention. She knew what it really was, Qui-Gon was trying to convince him to become a Jedi and Travien wanted him to make his own choice.
Anakin looked at Qui-Gon seriously, "You're a Jedi Knight aren't you?"
Qui-Gon looked at him, "Why do you think that?"
"I saw you're laser sword, only Jedi carry those." the boy answered confidently.
Travien grinned, "Hear that, you're slipping in your old age, Jedi."
Qui-Gon glared at Travien for a second and turned back to Anakin, "Maybe I killed a Jedi and took it from him."
Anakin shook his head, "Not possible, you can't kill a Jedi!" he stated firmly.
Qui-Gon looked wistful, "How I wish that were true."
"I don't." said a grinning Travien, "I'm more than happy with your mortality Jedi. Not so happy with my own, but I deal with it."
Qui-Gon smirked at him, "We don't need comments from the peanut gallery, thank you milord."
Anakin looks at Travien, "But I saw your laser sword too, aren't you a Jedi?"
Travien shook his head, "No, I'm not. I am a Sith Lord."
Anakin looks at him, puzzled, "What's a Sith Lord?"
Travien thought for a second, trying to make his answer comprehensible to a nine year old, "A Sith Lord, well to start with we are the leaders of the Sith. I'm the last of those who can honestly call themselves Sith." He paused, "If you think of the Jedi as a religious order…"
Qui-Gon interrupted, "We are not a religious order though. We are spiritual yes, but not religious."
Travien looked at him, "Do you, or do you not live in a temple?"
Qui-Gon stuttered for a bit, "Well yes we do but…"
"Thank you." He turned away from Qui-Gon, "If you think of the Jedi as a religious order, then they are one extreme of belief. They believe in meditation, peace, harmony and that sort of thing, okay?"
Anakin nodded and Travien carried on, "The Sith are more about emotion. We tend to go for the extremes of emotion. Hate, anger, love, joy, basically we're a group of people who can't sit around; we have absolutely no patience and have to be doing something. We're fairly dark and not particularly humanitarian but we have our points. Our perspective is as incomprehensible to the Jedi as theirs is to us."
Anakin nodded, "So you fight."
Travien shrugged, "A fair bit, mostly the Sith fight other Sith."
His brow furrowed, "Why would you fight other Sith?"
Travien shrugged, "We're all control freaks, really. We can't stand not being in charge."
Anakin shrugged, "Are you here to free the slaves? I had a dream I was a Jedi and freed all the slaves" he asked.
Travien shook his head and looked at Qui-Gon on desperation. Qui-Gon nodded and took the lead again,
"No Anakin, I'm afraid we're not."
"I think you are, why else would you be here?" he asked innocently.
Travien got up from the table, "Excuse me," he walked out of the room, followed by Padmé. She saw him leaning against the outside of the hut, using the Force to deflect the sandstorm around him. She did the same and walked up to him,
"Travien?" she reached out to touch his arm and saw that he was crying, but angry,
"He deserves better than this Padmé. They all do. This shouldn't happen to anyone. He doesn't deserve it and neither did I!" She held him as slumped to the ground against the wall. "Kids shouldn't suffer like that. I spent three bloody months in a Bacta tank after what they did to me and it's taken four thousand bloody years and the love of my life before I can even hold someone's hand! I was thrashed to within an inch of my life and tortured, just because my parents were Sith! The slavers who bought me considered it an opportunity to have their revenge on my parents, so did their friends."
Padmé held her gasp as she realized much he must have been made to suffer as a slave, she held him closer as he let it out. The winds around them picked up and sparked with the blue lightning of the Dark Side as he let out his pain. Soon enough the wind was roaring and bits were coming free from the rock formations around them.
Inside the building Qui-Gon looked at Anakin and ignored the Force fuelled storm outside, "I can see there's no fooling you Anakin. We're on our way to Coruscant, to get help from the Senate there. It's very important and must be kept secret." He said after a brief pause.
Anakin looked amazed, "Wow…Coruscant. But what are you doing on the outer rim?"
Qui-Gon smiled, "Our ship was damaged when we left the planet. We had to set down here to make repairs."
He perked up, "I can help, I can fix anything!"
Travien and Padmé walked back in after Travien collected himself, despite the howling winds outside. Travien clearly had tear tracks down the side of his face,
"I have little doubt that you can, Anakin. Unfortunately we need to get the parts first." He said as they sat down.
Jar Jar slumped, "And we got no nuttin moola to trade wit."
Padmé shook her head, "These junk dealers must have some kind of weakness that we can use against them."
Shmi smiled at her, "Gambling. They cannot resist gambling. Everything on this planet revolves around betting on those awful races."
Qui-Gon nodded, "Greed can be a powerful ally." The other were in deep thought as Anakin spoke up,
"I have a podracer, fastest one ever built! There's this huge race on Boonta Eve. You could enter my pod, it's almost finished."
Shmi shook her head vehemently, "Anakin, settle down. Watto wouldn't let you…"
"Watto doesn't know I've built it." He turned to Qui-Gon, "You could make him think it's yours and let me race."
Qui-Gon and Travien looked at Shmi, who was clearly upset at the idea of letting her son race,
"No, I don't want you to race, Ani. It scares me every time Watto puts you in one of those awful things."
Anakin protested as much as he could, "But mom, I love it. I love racing and they need help, please. The money from the race could easily pay for the parts they need."
Qui-Gon shook his head, "Your mother is right Anakin and as Travien said, there is always another way. Is there anyone friendly to the Republic that we can ask for help?"
Shmi shook her head, and Anakin tried again,
"Mom, we have to help. You say that the biggest problem in the galaxy is that no-one helps each other. Well they need our help, please, let me help."
Shmi looked as though she were struggling for words, "Anakin don't…" She was interrupted as Jar Jar belched and apologized. Travien looked at Qui-Gon in the silence that followed, who nodded.
Padmé looked to Shmi, "Qui-Gon doesn't want to put your son in danger. We can find another way."
The older woman shook her head, "There is no other way. He was meant to help you, born to help you. I certainly don't like it, but there is no other choice."
Padmé sighed as Travien spoke up, "Yes there is." They all looked at him as he turned to Anakin, "Can you teach me how to fly your podracer?"
Anakin looked sceptical, "No offense, but how can a blind man…" he was stopped as Travien caught an apple that Qui-Gon hurled at the side of his head. He looked between the two men for any sign that the display had been arranged. That thought was disproved when the apple caught Qui-Gon in the forehead on the way back.
"I have no doubt that you can race. I also know how you manage it, but your skill is raw, untrained. Mine is not. I have been racing for a long time, Anakin. I will not risk another for my own gain."
Anakin sighed, "Alright, I'll teach you."
Anakin placed his empty plate in the refresher and slunk of to his room, disappointed that he couldn't race. Shmi turned to Travien and Qui-Gon,
"I cannot thank you enough for keeping him out of this race. Are you sure you can do it though?"
Travien nodded, "Swoop racing is usually a little faster than podracing but it doesn't last as long. I ran a couple of podraces when I was younger, so I'll be fine." Shmi nodded and thanked them once again. She cleared her space and left the room.
The group turned to him,
"Are you sure about this, Travien?" asked Padmé, "I know how you feel, but…"
He gulped, "I have to do this. I won't let him race just to help us, it wouldn't be fair." Padmé nodded in agreement,
Qui-Gon stepped forward, "I had foreseen the boy winning the race and was planning on using that to free him."
Travien sighed, "I know. I saw the same thing. You of all people should understand that it wasn't right, Jedi." He sighed again, "I may be a bastard and I freely admit to having glassed more than one civilian world, but I will never manipulate or force a slave into doing something that I could have done myself." With that he left the room and headed to the sleeping area that Shmi set up for them.
