Chapter VI: Confrontations

2 BBY

Dantooine

Two crimson lightsaber blades swung away from each other horizontally and smashed into the two battle droids on either side of the figured clad in black and destroyed them. Luke Skywalker deactivated his lightsabers and collapsed in exhaustion in the hallway of the ruins of the Jedi enclave. He had arrived on the planet 6 days ago expecting to search empty ruins for ancient Jedi artifacts. Unbeknownst to Luke the enclave had been picked clean long before he had been rescued by his father nearly a decade before. As soon as he had entered the ruins the door had sealed behind him. Luke had barely taken three steps before two battle droids appeared and began firing at him. It was then that Luke realized he had walked right into a trap. The emperor had set him up that much he was sure of. Why he had been set up he did not know, nor did he care at the moment his only goal was to escape as soon as he could and then he would plot his revenge. For the last week and he been running and hiding and destroying the battle droids and the machines they seemed to endlessly spring out of with little or no sleep. The only thing that had kept his body moving was his anger at being betrayed and pain from multiple blaster shots that grazed his body. Now it finally finished and he was exhausted beyond belief and he passed into sleep.

Hour's later Luke rose when he sensed the door to the enclave open as some entered the enclave.
Cautiously Luke made his way to the door connecting his two lightsaber hilts to for a saberstaff. As he slowly rounded the final corner Luke a saw a man waiting there with his hands behind his back. He activated one of the hilts and walked around the corner slowly as he realized this must be the one who set the trap for the emperor.

"Ah yes Lord Skywalker there you are. I see you bested the Rakatan technology I placed here fo..."

The man was cut off as Luke's blood red blade plunged through his throat which so much speed the man didn't have time to even raise his hands in self defense. Not that it would have mattered anyway the flesh of his arms would have done no good against the lightsaber blade. As Luke stood over the man fuming he heard a cackle coming from the doorway and looked up to see a dark figure silhouetted against the bright blue of the Dantooine day.

"goooood. You have finally used your anger." the emperor said guttural tone as he approached Luke. "Had you only done so sooner I would have not have found it necessary to destroy you"

Luke felt like a supernova as his emotions stormed inside him.

"You will find I'm full of surprises your highness" Luke said as he activated his second blade and lunged at his master.

Sidious blocked his apprentices attack with the training saber he had brought with him and laughed. He made his own attack after blocking several blows from Luke's double bladed saberstaff. His intention was not kill his apprentice but it was also not give the game away so he did not attack with his full skill. After fifteen minutes of back and forth battling Sidious had seen enough. He locked blades with his apprentice and reached out with left hand grabbing Luke's lightsaber hilt. Once he had wrenched it from the dark pupil's hands he kicked him in the midsection and sent him flying into the wall.

Luke rose slowly as his wounds from the week long battle with droids and exhaustion took their toll. He cast his angry glare towards his master as the dark lord approached. To his surprise the emperor deactivated his lightsaber and tossed it on the ground near Luke. Confused, but with a newfound sense of strength as he saw his opportunity and called the lightsaber to his hand and activated it. Luke swung at the emperor's midsection but nothing happened. In that moment he realized he was holding a training saber.

"Gooooood" the emperor said with an evil smile on his face "You have proven your willingness to strike me down and by doing so you have passed your final test."

Luke kneeled as the emperor finally stopped his approach to within half a meter of him. Sidious disconnected the two hilts of Luke's saberstaff and handed them to his apprentice before continuing.

"From this day forth the enemies of the Galactic Empire will have a new fear. Luke Skywalker is no more from now on you will be known as…"The emperor paused as he let the force tell him the name of the new dark lord "…Darth Sohn"

"Yes, my master" Darth Sohn replied wearily.

"Rise Lord Sohn and accompany me back to my shuttle" Sidious commanded.

Darth Sohn rose and took his place at his master's side as they made their way back to his shuttle.

Sidious was telling him about the attack on Ventooine and how Starkiller and Vader had destroyed the base there. He also mentioned Starkiller had a new name as well, Darth Viscus. Sohn asked the emperor what the next move against the alliance would be and was told that there was a spy known as The Emperor's Hand following the rebels to their new base and soon as she was able to send word they would destroy the new location as well. When they reached Palpatine's shuttle he turned to Darth Sohn and mentioned an X-wing he had seen on the Khoonda Plains not far from where they were. Luke reached out and felt a strong presence trying to shield itself in the force.

Interesting, there is a Jedi here. I wonder how long? He thought to himself before turning to face his master.

"I will investigate this matter and deal with it at once my master" He said coldly as he turned to make his way toward the crystal cave where he was sure the Jedi was looking for a crystal.

Sidious watched as his apprentice walked away, his black robes blowing in the breeze. He noticed there was a storm on the horizon a chuckled to himself.

Oh if the Jedi only knew about the storm that was on the horizon.

He thought to himself as he boarded his shuttle and took off for Imperial Center.

Hyperspace

Mace Windu was asleep in the co-pilots seat of the shuttle he had left Ventooine in. Behind him sat Maris Brood, also asleep, who was coming to terms with her master's death at the hands of the sith who led the assault on their base. Beside him sat a young girl in her mid teens he had since learned was named Celeska Winterwind. From what he could learn she was an orphan who knew nothing of her parents and had been raised on Coruscant in an orphanage until she had finally made her way off world and into the rebellion. Mace suddenly snapped awake sensing the danger his padawan was in through their training bond.

"Drop out of hyperspace and set a course for Dantooine" He said to the young girl piloting their vessel.

Celeska did as she was told and the shuttle dropped out of hyperspace and just as quickly as she could set the new coordinates in the ships-computer vanished back into it off in another direction.

The Crystal Cave

Leia had spent 2 days removing rubble from a cave in that blocked the entrance to the crystal cave to form a small tunnel that would allow her access to the cave itself. When she had finally gotten through she followed the holocron's instructions and stayed to the right until she found a passage that appeared to go nowhere. A long the way she had battled a few kinrath that she dispatched of easily. Even with her lightsaber to illuminate the cave it was hard and she had taken a few wrong turns that led her to chamber filled with crystals like the ones on Illum. After she had gathered quite a few of them she continued her search. After another few hours she finally found her way to the spot Master Mical had said the package would be. After that all it had taken was reaching out with the force to discover the package buried a meter underground, its strong force presence was hard to miss. It took her another hour to dig up the package; she decided to wait until she was back with the Jedi council to open it. As she crawled her way out through the small tunnel she had made with the package under harm Leia could see that it was raining. But more importantly she could see the figure clad in all black leaning against the tree outside the cave waiting for her with his hood pulled up against the rain. When she got close to the entrance of her tunnel Leia let go of the package and climbed out brushing the dirt and sand off her robes.

As she stood there at the cave entrance the dark figure pushed himself off the tree and took a few steps closer. As he got closer Leia could make out two glowing yellow eyes underneath the hood. Suddenly he stopped about ten meters away. Leia was beginning to feel a little apprehension as she felt the darkness rippling off him in monstrous waves.

"Hello Jedi"

He called out to her as he lowered his hood revealing the rest of his face. He had long sandy blond hair and blue eyes that reminded her of a holo she had seen of the man who had given her his DNA; she refused to call him her father, before his fall. In fact as she looked closer there were a lot of similarities between this man's features and Anakin Skywalker's.

A Clone Leia thought to herself. She knew there was no way in the galaxy that man could have been healed enough to live outside the life support suit he now inhabited and besides that he would be close to 40 standard years now. The man before her was near his early twenties. Therefore the only conclusion was that this was a clone that now stood before. This must have been what Master Yoda had meant when he told her she would face her dark half. But she was still confused; Master Yoda always chose words carefully. Why would he say "dark half" instead of "dark origins"? She cleared her mind of these questions; she needed to focus on the task at hand.

"Hello Sith" Leia finally replied breaking herself free of her thoughts.

The figure pulled a black cylinder from his belt and dropped the dark robes he was wearing to the ground. Leia could feel the anger inside him. The effects of his dark presence on her would have made her sick were it not for her Jedi training. She let the rain calm her as she mentally prepared herself for a fight to the death. She had never been in a lightsaber duel before, beside her sparring sessions with the other Jedi, but she would do as she had always been taught by Master's Yoda and Windu, she would let the force guide her actions. She grabbed the silver cylinder on her side and pushed the large button on its side causing a golden blade to spring to life with a snap hiss. With her mind finally cleared Leia took a Makashi form.

Darth Sohn started pacing back and forth with one of his lightsabers in his right hand, fueling his rage to boiling points by thinking of all the Jedi had done to him and his family. Finally he had an opportunity to destroy one of the traitors; finally he would begin to have his revenge. When the female Jedi had activated her blade he knew she would not give up without a fight which caused Sohn to smile. His ruby blade snapped to life as he charged his opponent, the two blades came together with a crack that sounded like thunder.

The ferocity of the sith's attack caused Leia to take a step back with the initial blow. She let the force guide her actions, blocking each strike. Her foes crimson blade was like a whirlwind appearing to attack from every direction at once. She took no offensive moves instead focusing on the defense until an opening presented itself.

Patience.

She could hear master Yoda's voice from her lessons clearly in her mind. Leia was finally beginning to understand the little green master's insistence on being patient. If she wasn't patient here she would make a mistake that would cost her life. On the other hand she was hoping her opponents lack patience would cost him to do the same.

Suddenly the attacks ceased and Leia realized she had been taking steps backwards and they were close to the cave opening.

"You have been trained well Jedi" the sith hissed at her saying the last word like it tasted bad in his mouth.

Darth Sohn paced back forth in front of his opponent, a young girl close to his own age. She had defended his attacks quite well. Better than he had thought she would be able to.

"You have been trained well Jedi" he said with all the contempt in his being

The girl said nothing and instead just stood there with her lightsaber held at the ready which angered Sohn even more.

"You may have defended against my first assault but you'll find I have a few more tricks up my sleeve" He said as he dropped his second lightsaber from his left sleeve and ignited the blade and resumed his attack.

Celeska piloted the shuttle through Dantooine's atmosphere following the Jedi master's instructions.

"Head towards the Khoonda plains in the south, I believe that's where we will find Padawan Naberrie" mace Windu said beside her.

She did as she was told as the two Jedi got up prepared to depart the shuttle as soon as it landed.

"LOOK!" Celeska cried out and pointed toward the distance where two red flashes of light were clashing with a yellow one.

Mace turned around and spotted duel in the distance told her to hurry. Beside him Maris seemed to be teeming with nervous energy. Mace put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Be mindful of your thoughts padawan. Release your grief into the force" Mace told her

"Yes master" she replied without looking at him.

Leia was growing tired and could feel her defenses failing. The ferocity of the attacks had increased with introduction of second lightsaber. She had managed to parry every strike so far but she felt it was only matter of time before of the blood red blades found its way past her defenses. The Sith's yellow eyes burned with a rage she had never seen before. She needed to think of something fast before he landed a blow.

Suddenly an opening presented itself and before she knew what she was doing Leia brought her right foot up and kicked her opponent squarely on the chin and sent him staggering backward and falling flat on his back. She brought her yellow blade down to press her advantage but a red blade blocked her blow from striking his neck and she felt a kick land against the right side of her head.

Darth Sohn sprang to his feet as his enemy staggered to the left. As he did so he noticed a shuttle craft approaching quickly. He would have to dispatch this one quickly before he dealt with whoever was on the shuttle. Sohn swung widely at the Jedi with the lightsaber in his left hand and as he did so he felt a push send him flying through the air and he was once again on his back. When he looked up again the Jedi was slowly getting to her feet and he noticed the shuttle had already landed and dropped its ramp a short distance away. As he got to his feet to more figures in Jedi robes came rushing down the ramp. One was a zabrak female who moved faster than the dark skinned human following behind her.

"MARIS!" mace yelled as she went careening past him down the ramp with her lightsaber ignited and ready for battle. She slowed and turned back towards him and he could see the impatience in her eyes.

"We need to hurry master Leia is in trouble!" she responded

"Attacking him by yourself will cause more problems than solutions padawan we'll check on Leia and attack him together" mace told her as her side.

Close by Leia had managed to get back to her feet and had noticed her master and friend we're now with her.

"It's good to see you master as you can see this Sith is a bit of a handful" Leia said as mace and Maris finally reached her

"It's good to see you too padawan though I wish it was under different circumstance. What do you say we deal with this Sith and be on our way?" Mace said as he drew out his lightsaber.

"Sounds good master" Leia replied

"The three of us should be able to take him" Maris said as she stared at the sith who was only 50 meters away.

The three Jedi spread out and faced the sith, Leia on the right, Maris in the middle and mace on the left.

Mace ignited his blue lightsaber and started to speak.

"We will all attack him simultan.."

Before he could finish his sentence Maris shot forward her blue blade held high and primal scream escaping her throat.

The Zabrak charged at him with blade held high, as she started to bring her blade down he brought his the lightsaber in his left hand up to block followed by the one in his right hand which cut decapitated her instantly causing her body to continue forward as her head dropped to the ground. He looked down at the head and kicked it to the side as if he were kicking a piece of trash out of the way and then returned his attention back to the two Jedi still standing.

"One down, two to go" he said as if he were fixing vaporators on a moisture farm

Sohn brought his two lightsaber hilts together forming a saberstaff which he then held horizontally in front of him.

"Shall we?" He asked as he twirled his twin blades and charged towards the female hoping to overwhelm her quickly so he could face the older Jedi alone. However she deflected his first two strikes and the other Jedi was able to attack him from the rear, though Sohn was able to block it.

Mace recognized the form used by the sith as combination of Ataru and Juyo. The two forms don't blend very well but the sith was pulling it off quite admirably. Mace let the force guide his lightsaber through the vapaad form, striking at what seemed to be random places mace searched for an opening or weakness he could exploit. He though he saw something when the sith would thrust towards Leia, he wouldn't be able to land killing blow but he might be able to disable one the crimson blades.

The Sith thrust towards Leia's midsection as he did which she blocked when he brought his blade back towards mace his lightsaber hilt was exposed to a strike for a brief second. Mace brought his blue blade up in an arc and sliced through the hilt disabling the blade on the Sith's right side. The blow caught the sith by surprise and he almost failed block Leia's strike towards his neck which he only deflected slightly. The yellow blade was still able to graze the left side of his face and burn away the top layer of skin.

Darth Sohn's sense screamed with pain as the yellow blade touched his face and his vision went white with the most intense pain he had ever experienced. As he fell to his knees he felt a surge of energy surge through his body When his vision returned a moment later he saw both of the Jedi lying on their backs. The female appeared to be unconscious but the male was getting back to his feet about a hundred meters away. At that moment Sohn knew he couldn't win here and ignoring the pain in his face he got to his feet quickly and using the force to enhance his speed ran towards the valley that led to the ruins and his sith interceptor.

Celeska watched the battle from the boarding ramp of the shuttle. She had left the engines running in case they needed to make a quick get escape. She had seen Master Windu's blade cut through the sith lord's lightsaber hilt and Leia's follow on blow that connected with his face. The Sith had fallen to his knees arcs of lightning and wave of energy burst from his body in all directions throwing the two Jedi back nearly a hundred meters and then get up run off with astonishing speed.

Mace Windu slowly got to his feet and looked around for his foe and seeing no sign of him he reached out with the force to ascertain his presence. He was moving quickly away from them, mace decided to let him go when he looked over and saw Leia lying unconscious near the ramp of the shuttle. He hurried over and yelled for the young pilot standing at the ramp to give him a hand as he picked her up and carried her to the shuttle and Leia on one of the bench seats in back of the shuttle.

"The package .." Leia said barely opening her eyes

"Rest padawan you've faced a very difficult test today" Mace told her

"The package master, I left it at the mouth of the cave. I have to know what's in it" she said again

"I will retrieve the package Leia but you must rest and regain your strength. We can learn what secrets the old Jedi were hiding here when we get Yavin IV" Mace told her again as Leia drifted back into unconsciousness

"Is she going to be okay Master Jedi?" Celeska asked as she came up behind Mace.

"Yes she's going to have a few bruises and sore when she wakes up but other than that she should be fine" he replied

"What about the other padawan Master Windu?" the girl asked referring to Maris's lifeless body less than a hundred yards away.

Mace looked back to the corpse of young zabrak Jedi.

"She is one with the force now. There is nothing that can be done for her, we'll recover the body and give her a proper funeral but that's all we can do" Mace said solemnly

Celeska came up behind him and looked down at Leia.

"She fought well. Her opponent appeared to have met his match in her" she commented

"Her family is very powerful. Very powerful indeed" Mace responded confusing the young red haired pilot who said nothing as she left to retrieve the body of the other padawan and Mace went to retrieve the package.